Photo by Antonio R. Villaraigosa

Photograph by Antonio R. Villaraigosa

Hundreds of thousands of undocumented students and young adults in California, brought to this land when they were very young, will learn a piffling more today about their likelihood of remaining in the The states legally for at least two years.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), part of the Section of Homeland Security, is releasing some additional answers to its list of frequently asked questions about President Barack Obama's deferred action plan. On June 15, afterwards years of failed attempts past Congress to pass the Evolution, Relief, and Pedagogy for Alien Minors Act, commonly known equally the DREAM Act, the President authorized Homeland Security to develop guidelines for some undocumented children, teens, and young adults to utilise for a deferral from deportation.

Individuals who meet the criteria [see box] will exist able to apply for a temporary piece of work permit, a Social Security bill of fare, and a driver'due south license or state ID.

"The students that I've been in bear upon with are very excited; they run into this every bit a big breakthrough, the first substantive change in immigration policy in many, many years," said Kent Wong, manager of the UCLA Labor Center, which provides information and advocates on behalf of undocumented students.

The federal authorities will begin accepting applications on Aug. 15, two weeks from today, but as yet hasn't published the application class or any detailed guidelines beyond the nuts. The big questions that aren't answered in the current FAQs are how much will it price and how stringent will the government exist well-nigh eligibility requirements?

Legal and fiscal hurdles

Cost is a huge factor for undocumented people, who typically earn low wages and go paid under the table for their piece of work. The programme is supposed to be self-supporting, and Homeland Security has said information technology will need to hire about 1,300 employees to handle the extra load. Homeland Security documents labeled "not for distribution," which were obtained by the Associated Printing, judge the application process alone could run as high every bit $465 a person. It's non articulate if that includes the $85 fee for a background check and the $iiieighty fee for obtaining a work permit.

Luis Serrano all the same owes $350 to Los Angeles Customs College for his concluding semester. Laid off from a job he held for three years, and non eligible for unemployment insurance due to his condition, the 24-year-sometime had to get out school and his apartment earlier finishing his degree. He has been on his own for several years.

"I was forced to move out [of his parents' home] when I was 19, so pretty much I had to get any task I could to pay for school, and I couldn't take many classes because of work and money," said Serrano.

A piece of work permit, it he tin can beget it, would allow him to become a higher-paying job so he tin can stop customs college and transfer to a 4-year university. Serrano wants to become a history teacher.

On the surface, Serrano appears to be a model bidder for the deferred activeness plan. A cousin brought him across the edge from Mexico when he was 7 years old to be with his parents, who were already here. He dropped out of high schoolhouse to work, merely has since earned a GED. Serrano also seems to have dodged a possible snag. A few years ago he was pulled over for driving without a license, but a estimate dismissed the ticket when the traffic courtroom couldn't find whatsoever record of information technology.

Hundreds, possibly thousands of otherwise eligible applicants may not exist and then fortunate. The regulations disqualify "individuals who have been bedevilled of whatsoever felony, a meaning misdemeanor criminal offense, iii or more misdemeanor offenses not occurring on the same date and not arising out of the same act, omission, or scheme of misconduct, or otherwise pose a threat to national security or public condom."

A significant misdemeanor includes a DUI conviction and any crime involving assail, theft, burglary, or domestic violence. Serrano's close call for driving without a license would fall within the three regular misdemeanors category, and Domenic Powell with DreamActivist.org said it'due south not as well hard for teenagers to get more than ane misdemeanor. "When information technology comes to misdemeanors, some of these are but youthful mistakes that everybody makes," he said.

Additionally, any drug offense, fifty-fifty possession of a articulation or drug paraphernalia, is an automatic disqualification. "The things they hate the most are falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen and drugs," warned attorney Joseph Weiner with the Immigrant Rights Project at Public Counsel, a national pro bono law center based in Los Angeles. Only kids will endeavor drugs, he said, peculiarly teenagers.

Weiner said another unanswered question is whether juvenile offenses volition be counted. Under current law, juvenile records are sealed and require a court order to be opened. If that does happen, California'due south Welfare and Institutions code says that juvenile convictions become civil convictions. But Weiner is concerned that these convictions may exist used to disqualify someone nether the vague principle of posing a threat to national security or public safety.

"I take cases correct now where the kids take problems. One has convictions for robbery and break-in as a juvenile. He has since reformed; he'southward a great kid now. Will he exist disqualified? If he is that's extremely unfair," Weiner argued.

Too much information

Public Counsel is one of several civil rights constabulary firms planning to run clinics to aid people with their applications. But in other quarters officials are urging caution. Nancy Coolidge, a legislative and policy analyst for the Academy of California, said in that location'south some feet in the UC President's Function about undocumented students revealing too much. "If in that location was a student who was already in line for displacement, this might brand a lot of sense," said Coolidge. But for other students, she warned that "coming forward and identifying yourself and telling where you are and what you're doing really carries a different weight."

Besides, said Coolidge, the California Dream Human action offers a better deal for students who are concerned about paying for higher, without risking displacement in the event that a new presidential administration doesn't go on the program. When fully implemented, the 2 bills that make up the Dream Act will allow some undocumented students to apply for private scholarships distributed past UC and Cal Land, and for land-funded aid, including Cal Grants.

That'south what Luis Serrano is waiting for. As much as he wants a work permit, he'd also like not to work when he gets to a four-yr university, so he can focus on school. "My whole program is to end at Los Angeles Community College, and when I transfer out not work and get aid to stop every bit fast as I can," said Serrano. "I want to take as many units every bit I can with that coin."

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