Biden administration announces DACA recipients can finally renew online
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Young immigrants who are eligible to renew their Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) protections may now do so online, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced this week. While the program has been in effect for nearly a decade (!), online filing forms have not been an option until this announcement.
“Up until now, that paperwork had to be mailed into the agency and getting a response could take months,” Fronteras reported. “Phoenix resident Jose Patiño was left without DACA protection a few years ago when his renewal was delayed.” Without that approval, applicants can’t work legally. He told the outlet that he remembers the daily anxiety. “I never want to go through that again.”
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Right now, this new online option is available only to young immigrants who are seeking to renew their protections. The DACA program itself has continued to remain blocked to new applicantsfollowing a right-wing judge’s decision last July. While renewals can continue, tens of thousands of first-time applications that were stuck in USCIS delays have remained in limbo. Adding salt to the wound, CBS News reported that USCIS would not be refunding these first-time applicants their $495 fees.
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Since that court decision, the Biden administration has appealed Judge Andrew Hanen’s ruling, and announced a proposed rule to strengthen the policy. While the proposed rule’s public comment period ended in late November, the final rule has not yet been released. Advocates during the public comment period had urged officials to address a provision in the proposed rule that could sever work permits from the program. This would absolutely devastate young immigrants who have thrived under the policy.
“I do expect that we should see a DACA rule within the next several weeks; however, because it is the government, there are no guarantees,” said Maggie Riley, an immigration law and policy analyst at Boundless Immigration. “However, I do expect that we should see a DACA rule at least several months prior to the November 2022 midterm elections.”
National Immigration Law Center tweeted that this new online renewal option “will reduce the burden of the application process on DACA recipients, esp. as our communities continue to feel the impact of #COVID19.” United We Dream celebrated it as “big news”:
“But USCIS still handles most applications on paper,” Bloomberg reported. “An internal watchdog report last year found that USCIS’s reliance on paper documents limited the agency’s ability to process benefits, even after offices partially reopened amid the Covid-19 pandemic.” One report earlier this year detailed how some immigrant applicants have been in limbo because their paperwork has been in largely inaccessible storage caves.
“The expansion of online filing is a priority for USCIS as we make our operations more efficient and effective for the agency and our stakeholders, applicants, petitioners and requestors,” said USCIS Director Ur Jaddou. “The option to file DACA renewal requests online is part of USCIS’ ongoing move to minimize reliance on paper records and further transition to an electronic environment.”
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