What you should know about being a Dreamer in America

You have lived in the United States for a long time, and you’ve maintained your Dreamer’s status for years. Now, you want to renew it, but you’re not sure if the government will allow it. Constant changes with immigration legislation make it hard to know what you can and cannot do to protect your right to stay in the United States.

One thing you should know is that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program was being phased out by the current administration, but an injunction has been placed to help some people who would be caught in the transition and negatively impacted by the changes. Here is a little more about DACA and how the judicial system has stepped in to help those with previous Dreamer status.

Did the DACA cancellation get overturned?

Federal court orders have forced the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to begin accepting requests for renewals of deferred action under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. Right now, the USCIS is not taking new requests from those who did not previously file or who missed refiling for over one year.

The USCIS has stated that it will continue to operate on the same terms it operated under prior to the revocation of DACA in September 2017 for the remaining applications. This is all thanks to an injunction from the federal courts. It’s not clear if the cancellation of DACA will be reversed by the federal courts presently.

Why does the injunction matter?

Previously, 4,000 people, known as Dreamers, had mailed in their DACA renewals before the deadline in Octoner 2017, but they were marked as late at the USCIS filing centers. Some were later due to the mailing time and delivery times of the USPS, while others did arrive on time but were not picked up by the USCIS until the following day.

As someone who needs to renew the DACA application, this is good news for you. However, if you have not yet created an application, this still means that you may be unable to achieve the status you’re after. It’s wise to stay in contact with an immigration attorney or specialist while laws like these change, especially as the courts reverse or place injunctions on changes.

Knowing when to file paperwork is as important as ever, and being up-to-date with current changes in law could be the difference between staying in America or facing deportation in the future.