Miami – United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced Thursday, January 29th that Wednesday, February 18, 2015 is the date when eligible undocumented youth will be able to apply for the expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program.
It is estimated that 90,000 undocumented young Floridians could potentially benefit from the expanded DACA Program.
The DACA Program was created in 2012 to grant temporary status and work permit for two (2) years to young immigrants who arrived in the United States as children before turning 16 years old. The Program was expanded during President Obama’s recent Executive Action on November 20, 2014, extending the deferred action period and employment authorization to three (3) years, and removing the age cap of 31 years old allowing eligible immigrants to apply regardless of how old they are now.
Young Floridians could be eligible if they meet the following requirements:
- Entered the United States before the age of 16;
- Have lived in the United States continuously since at least January 1, 2010, rather than the prior requirement of June 15, 2007;
- Meet all the other DACA guidelines, except the age limit
Florida New Americans, a program of the Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC), has created the following tools to inform and assist eligible Floridians:
- FREE Hotline: 1-888-406-0541 (English) and 1-888-407-7611 (Spanish)
- FREE Text alerts: anyone can sign up by sending the word “actionfl” to the number 313131
- Online tools at flnewamericans.org
Currently, Florida is one of 26 states that are part of a lawsuit to stop the implementation of this program. The Florida Immigrant Coalition has started a sign-on letter asking Attorney General Pam Bondi to #DropTheLawsuit. To date, over 60 organizations, businesses and influential leaders have signed on and FLIC has requested an official meeting with AG Bondi but her office hasn’t responded.
