As the Deferred Action of Childhood Arrivals continues to be debated in federal courts, recipients are already seeing impacts.
According to National Immigration Law Center, DACA allows young immigrants who grew up in the U.S. to seek temporary protection from deportation and to have the ability to work.
The DACA program was enacted in 2012 by former President Barack Obama. For people to qualify, they must have met two factors physically in the U.S. on or before their 16th birthday and on or before August 2008.
Heidi Oligmueller, an immigration lawyer, told Siouxland Public Media, DACA recipients must submit renewal applications every two years. Oligmueller herself has helped about 300 to 400 DACA recipients.
She said processing times used to take two weeks to four months, but now the processing time takes 10 to 12 months, leading people to lose their work authorization, jobs, and health benefits.
Oligmueller added in order for recipients to receive their renewal, they have to have their fingerprints scanned or rerun through both FBI and immigration systems.
“I was doing immigration law when DACA was introduced in the Siouxland area and have maintained a good client base of those same people for the last fourteen years,”she said.
Oligmueller mentioned how DACA recipients have spent most of their lives in the United States, more than in their country of birth.
She said even though the Supreme Court has determined the termination of the program was unlawful, DACA recipients are still being detained and deported. She mentioned due to this action there has been a rise in lawsuits.
According to Oligmueller, there are about 6,300 DACA recipients throughout Iowa and Nebraska. Other states including Texas are saying they no longer recognized the program.
