Veronica Martinez-Vargas, a 19-year-old illegal immigrant from Salisbury, couldn’t believe it when she turned in her application for the Deferred Action program enacted in June by the Obama administration.
“It was overwhelming,” she said. “I had my friend with me and we just hugged for a while.”
The program either stops or prevents deportation proceedings for undocumented youths for two years and allows them to obtain a work permit. To apply, immigrants had to be under age 31 as of June 15, 2012, but at least age 15. They also must prove they entered the country before their 16th birthday and lived in the U.S. since June 15, 2007.
Just 29 applications have been approved nationally, of more than 82,000 who applied since the program opened in August. It’s unknown how many Maryland students applied or are eligible, however, more than 350 Maryland students qualify for the Maryland Dream Act, according to the Department of Legislative Services, which shares many of the same requirements.
When Martinez-Vargas came from Mexico to the U.S. at age 10, she did not understand the gravity of her status. It wasn’t until she tried to volunteer at a hospital years later and was rejected for failing to include a Social Security number on her application that she realized her delicate status.
She dreamed of going to universities such as Loyola, but because she does not qualify for government aid, she could not afford them. Now 19, she is a biochemistry major at Wor-Wic Community College, paying out-of-state tuition, despite living in Maryland for nine years.
While she’s delighted by the Deferred Action program, she’s realistic, too.
“This is a placeholder, but not a solution,” she said. “It is exciting though, to be able to receive a work permit and finish school.”
Deferred Action may give some undocumented immigrants breathing room, but their status remains unstable.
Robert Koulish, a visiting government and politics professor at the University of Maryland, College Park, said the program is not law. It was created by President Barack Obama through an executive order, which provides much less certainty to the program.
“If Romney is elected in November, come January he could revoke it,” he said. “This is not permanent and immigrants are still left in a precarious position.”
Despite the low number of approvals, the processing of applications has gone relatively fast compared to other immigration programs, said Caroline Clark, president of the Immigration Law and Policy Association at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. Other applications submitted to the UCIS could take as long as five years to approve, she said.
The limitations of Deferred Action makes passing the Maryland Dream Act, and even the Federal Dream Act, very important, said Clark.
“It is just a pause in removal proceedings,” she said. “It does not lead toward citizenship and every two years you have to reapply.”
The federal Dream Act has remained in legislative purgatory for more than 10 years. The most recent version of the bill creates a path to citizenship for immigrants who graduate from an institution of higher learning, attend at least two years toward a bachelor’s or higher degree of learning, or served in the military for at least two years.
It is unlikely that will pass in the next four years, Clark said, regardless of who is elected.
While programs like Deferred Action or the Maryland Dream Act would solve part of the immigrant youth program, until an overall federal immigration reform bill passes, little things — as simple as transportation — will remain problems.
Just getting around is a nightmare for Eliel Acosta, a Deferred Action applicant brought to the U.S. at age 2, who is a junior in psychology at Mount St. Mary’s University. He makes the 40-minute drive from his home near Gettysburg, Pa., without a driver’s license. Luckily, he said, he has not been pulled over.
“It is too stressful,” he said. “Being in college and driving without documents is a very stressful situation.”
Acosta received help from his local priest to attend school. If he were to be deported he said he would have trouble working since his Spanish is not the best. Even though the program is only for two years, deferred action has given him, “a lot of hope that I can finish my education and possibly become a professor.”
By ERIN DURKIN
Gerry Maynes says
All Around this is a shame. IUts not a kids fault that he was located in this country as a small child at 2. In fact that child is not a Mexican b ut and American teen, just like any one who was born here. That said I don!t feel any obligation to pay for these kids education,no more then I would pay for a kids who was born here. I believe that these folks should be made citizens, thier parents allowed to stay but with junior citizenship. Allowed to stay but n ot to vote for at least ten years, since they are only here by the grace of their kids and should not be rewarded.
Fletcher Hall says
The Dream Act is no substitute for an effective,realistic immigration policy. We have none.
joe diamond says
I agree with Fletcher Hall!
The United States of America has never had an effective, realistic immigration policy. What we have always had is a series of stop gap measures that were randomly enforced. Numerous exceptions were granted for what were perceived at the time to be the best interests of the nation. In the matter of immigration there has never been a predictable policy and arrival at our boarders have always been a roll of the dice subject to the whims of clerks and politicians.
Even after admission various groups of new arrivals have been subject to a second guess that could have them interned or removed at the pleasure of the government. Full civil rights have been granted only after prolonged struggle. We should replace the plaque under the Statue of Liberty and put up a sign that says….TAKE A NUMBER.
Joe
Lainey Harrison says
I dont know about this whole thing. This guy Acosta says he is lucky for not being pulled over driving around without a license. Acosta, an illegal immigrant, is driving without a license. How does one obtain car insurance without a drivers license? I think we should all feel even luckier than Acosta, he hasnt hit anyone else yet. For me, the key has to lie in a path to LEGAL immigration, not loopholes for illegals. Solve the real issue and this side issue will go away.
joe diamond says
Lainey,
The legal path to immigration has had some problems. Mainly it takes so long for some to gain entrance and for others arrival and citizenship has just been a plane ride. The rules should be clear and evenly applied.
For example:
In 1939 the SS St. Louis arrived in Cuba with about one thousand Jewish refugees from what would later be known as the holocaust. Cuba refused admittance to all but twelve with enough extra cash to pay enhanced immigration fees (bribes). The then president of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt took action! He wrote a letter to Batista asking for more consideration. This was refused and the United States Coast Guard even fired a warning shot to keep the St Louis from entering any USA port. The passengers were returned to europe………..two hundred and fifty went up in smoke.
The Captain of the St Louis, Gustav Schroder, Has his name on the Righteous Among Nations Memorial in Isreal for his efforts. Franklin Roosevelt is conspicuous by his absence.
During WWII the Nazies conducted advanced rocket programs One of their main scientists was Warner Von Braun. Even though most of the facilities for the rocket program in france were dug & constructed with slave (Jewish) labor…at the end of the war he got on a plane and became the father of the American space program. We hung his bosses. He got on a plane and just changes offices.
So the St Louis was turned away from our shores even though the situation in Europe was known at the time. A skilled Nazi rocket man was admitted.
The people his rockets killed in England are just as dead.
All was legal. We just make it up as we go along.
Joe
Lainey Harrison says
I agree 100%. The path to legal immigration needs to be easy, clean, concise, and applied across the board evenly, which is why I find these DREAM acts disturbing. They are not solving the problems, they are doing the exact opposite. They are creating exceptions for this or exceptions for that ILLEGAL act. We wont need a DREAM act if legal immigration rules are enforced. Fix the path to immigration, not create loopholes. Honestly, if I were an illegal, I dont know that I would be willing to come forward under the DREAM act. You are handing a prosecutor the entire case against you for the day when those winds of political climate do change. We have giant gaping holes in our immigration policy today. We need to repair those holes, not dig new ones.
joe diamond says
Lainey,
That would be my greatest fear! Imagine busses riding around to all the last known addresses of those who applied for the deferment. The Homeland Security wonks knocking on doors and loading people on the busses.
There is hope. Recent trends show illegal immigrants are going home voluntarily. I read that they discover things are no better here and the new boarder fence is making it too difficult for them to cross back and forth when they need to. The drug runners keep up the pace and have the funds to do it, however.
Joe
gerry maynes says
Hi,Thats what happens when the President of The United Statews decides that he is more powerful then the congress and runs a end run around this equal body. In fact i believe that what he did was cruel to these people and not only illegal, but immoral. He played politics with their lives and I guess could be impeached for this act.
Yes, congress should be allowed to write a bill to protect these kids and lets face it even if you were that cold hearted to tell some 14 year old kid, raised in this country to his or her face , that they had to leave, do you think that you can send out a million or so people from this country. I don!t thin k so.
Remember John Micain, Ronald Reagan and George Bush Jr all tried to get some thing done. I hope the new administration will get somethin done. These Kids are as much Americans as our own children are. Franlky we are better people then this.
Michael Hildebrand says
This explains it completely: il.le’gal, adj. unlawful. Although I agree with the fact that the immigration policy in this country is retarded, the bottom line is these people are here illegally. To reward them with programs that give them a reason to come here defeats the purpose of any type of immigration law from the start. Why should they get in-state tuition and a legal citizen from out of state have to pay more? I feel sorry for these people but if they put half of the energy that they have used to come here and fight for equality into reforming their own country, they wouldn’t need to put their lives as well as their families at risk to travel here. If this country enforced the laws to begin with, we wouldn’t have this problem to begin with. But then again, if the total cost of benefits for illegal immigrants was divided equally among all the people who felt it was the right thing to do, then go for it! I’m all for it as long as I don’t pay for it in any shape, form, tax or fee!
joe diamond says
Michael,
It seems that the flow of refugees here is the result of: (1) unsuccessful revolts against military dictatorships we supported because these guys said they were anti communist, (2) successful revolts by landless peasants (Cuba) or (3) fearful people hiding from the violent drug cartels. Those who feel they are on top of the power ladder stay in their home countries. The losers migrate here. In the Americas the United States is one of the few places where political leadership transfers without violent revolution. Elsewhere if you lose a revolution you have to get out.
At a minimum the United States has been perceived as a place where economic and social mobility is possible. Recently it has been reported that the illegal residents are illegally leaving. They no longer see this country as any better than the country from which they came. Southwest USA states are doing a lot to encourage this idea. The feds are building an enhanced fence and boarder control system that will make the Berlin Wall look like an amateur attempt at population control. The drones are flying down there. Things are changing.
Soon we will be locked in. They will be locked out.
Joe