USCIS Resumes accepting DACA Renewal Applications

By Little India Desk | January 15, 2018

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on Jan.13 that it has resumed accepting requests for renewing applications under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) or popularly known as Dreamers Act after a federal court order. The decision affects thousands of young Indians who had been left in a lurch.

The program will work the same as it did before it was rescinded on Sept.5, 2017, with the exception that those who have never before been granted deferred action under DACA can’t apply.

According to a statement by USCIS, only the individuals who were previously granted deferred action under DACA may request renewal. USCIS will also not accept or approve advance parole requests from DACA recipients.

The statement added that those whose DACA expired on or after Sept.5 2016, can apply for its renewal. “If you previously received DACA and your DACA expired on or after Sept.5, 2016, you may still file your DACA request as a renewal request,” said the statement.

On Jan.9, a federal judge in California temporarily stopped the withdrawal of DACA since the matter is under litigation. The judge said that the government must maintain the DACA program on a nationwide basis. Federal Judge William Alsup had ruled that DACA gave them a more tolerable set of choices, including joining the mainstream workforce. “Now, absent an injunction, they will slide back to the pre-DACA era and associated hardship,” the judge added.

Multiple lawsuits had been filed against the government’s decision to end the program. The statement from USCIS also said, “further, deferred action under DACA does not confer legal status upon an individual and may be terminated at any time, with or without a Notice of Intent to Terminate, at DHS’s discretion.”

According to South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT), a non-profit organization, a total of 5,500 Indians and Pakistanis are covered under DACA and an additional 17,000 from India are eligible for it. In total, 8,00,000 people will be affected by the decision, if the government decides to rescind the DACA program.

On Jan.9, US President Donald Trump had said that he wants a comprehensive overhaul of the immigration process. He sought a “clean” DACA bill paired with a legislation to construct the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

“I think a clean DACA bill, to me, is a DACA bill, but we take care of the 800,000 people, but I think, to me, a clean bill is a bill of DACA, we take care of them, and we also take care of security,” Trump said, reported Vox.

US President Trump took to the social media to criticize the democrats about not taking action to fix DACA.

The Democrats are all talk and no action. They are doing nothing to fix DACA. Great opportunity missed. Too bad!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 13, 2018