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DACA recipients have small window of renewal, still in need of government action

Posted at 5:47 PM, Feb 08, 2018
and last updated 2018-02-08 17:48:02-05

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. --Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or ‘DACA’ is an issue getting a lot of focus amid the government budget battles and with the deadline to renew the program fast approaching, now is an important time for dreamers who are eligible to renew their status.

The Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, a statewide non profit legal resource center for immigrant communities, says the calls from people concerned about DACA have been overwhelming and though they say they have a promising solution, it's one that only puts a bandaid on a looming deadline.

"Once DACA got rescinded I really couldn't see that tomorrow anymore I couldn't see my future anymore," says Danny Caracheo, Davenport University freshman DACA student.

Caracheo is one of seven thousand Michiganders to benefit from the DACA program. He came to Grand Rapids from Salida, Mexico when he was just five years old. Now a freshman at Davenport University, he says he fears without DACA his future may change.

"This is what my parents brought me here for, to have access to a better education and to a better life," says Caracheo.

Susan Reed with the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center says she takes calls from people like Danny every day.

"We probably have several dozen clients with DACA and every day we advise probably 10 to 15 callers looking for legal advice and referrals, so we're getting a lot of questions about DACA right now," says Reed.

She says while the DACA program was rescinded back in September, now is an important time for Dreamers.  Many thought those eligible to renew only had one month from that date to renew, but after a lawsuit from the University of California, that renewal period was reopened.

"It is a little confusing right now because the waters are a little bit muddy by a case that the regents of the University of California brought against the government, that has resulted in an injunction that has briefly reopened the renewal window for some people," says Reed.

Eligible recipients now have until March 5 to renew, but it will be their last time.

And as for whether they should renew, Reed says, "We really can't guarantee that. There are no guarantees about DACA right now."

Though some Dreamers, like Danny, say they won't give up the fight even after March 5, the unknown is something that makes the looming deadline even harder to face.

"The path forward is obvious because a Dream Act bill that would provide permanent status for people with DACA would absolutely pass, but the question is will it be bought to the floor," says Reed.

Reed says some recipients will lose their status as of that March 5th deadline if Congress doesn’t act. But others who renew now will remain legal until as late as 2020.

Those expirations will not only impact students at school but adults with jobs under DACA. To find out more about the renewal period, you can contact the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center .