Dreamers Still in Limbo as DACA Deadline Comes & Goes

"(CN) – Immigrants protected from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program are safe for now thanks to injunctions that blocked the Trump administration from ending the program, but Texas has its sights set on litigation that could jeopardize their status.

Without a preliminary injunction that was issued in January by a federal judge in San Francisco, DACA recipients whose benefits expired after Monday would have been unable to reapply for the program. Many of the estimated 700,000 immigrants enrolled, known as “Dreamers,” are now scrambling to get their renewal applications ready.

Karla Perez, 25, is a University of Houston law student on track to graduate in May. She came to the United States at age 2 with her parents from Mexico City.

She said she would not have been able to file a renewal application without the injunction because her DACA status expired after Monday. She expects to start the renewal process in late March.

Dreamers pay U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services a $500 application fee and must be interviewed by the agency, which fingerprints and photographs them, before a decision on their cases can be made..."

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