Immigrants Brought to US as Kids Get Shot at Residency

Hundreds of Massachusetts residents are preparing to gather in Chelsea to learn how they could benefit from a new federal program that allows illegal immigrants brought to the United States as children to apply to avoid deportation and receive a work permit.

The meeting Wednesday evening is the first of three community forums during which immigration attorneys and advocates will explain details of the so-called federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Federal officials have repeatedly warned that the process won’t lead to citizenship or give them permission to travel internationally.

Wednesday is the first day that people can submit applications for the program expected to benefit directly more than 12,200 Massachusetts illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children. The largest New England state has the seventh largest population of immigrants in the country, with about 320,000 people holding green cards given to legal permanent U.S. residents in 2010, according to the federal Department of Homeland Security.

 

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program has excited Conrado Santos, who arrived in the United States with his parents and sibling nearly 12 years ago from Brazil at age 13, in search of economic prosperity.

Santos’ Student Immigrant Movement, a Boston-based group, will join community improvement and immigrant advocacy organizations as well as Boston city officials on Wednesday to announce the opening of free centers across the state that will help illegal immigrants file applications for the federal benefit. The first eight centers will offer legal and other services in East Boston, Lawrence, Lynn and New Bedford, Santos said.

The new federal program will remove the ominous threat of deportation that hangs over illegal immigrant youth and enable them “to step out of the shadows and apply for work permits and be recognized as people by the United States government,” said the 24-year-old Santos, whose immigration status prevents him from getting a work permit or driver’s license. “I’m very excited about this.”

The paperwork for the program can be downloaded from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website. Applicants must pay a $465 fee and provide proof of identity and eligibility.

Proof of identity and eligibility under the program could include a passport or birth certificate, school transcripts, medical and financial records and military service records. The Homeland Security department said that in some instances, multiple sworn affidavits, signed by a third party under penalty of perjury, could also be used.

A decision on each application could take several months, and immigrants have been warned not to leave the country while their application is pending. If they are allowed to stay in the United States and want to travel internationally, they will need to apply for permission to come back into the country, a request that would cost $360 more.

The administration announced the plan in June to stop the deportation of many illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. To be eligible, immigrants must prove they arrived in the United States before they turned 16, are 30 or younger, have been living here at least five years, and are in school or graduated or served in the military. They also cannot have been convicted of certain crimes or otherwise pose a safety threat.

The Chelsea forum is co-hosted by the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition and youth social service agency Roca Inc. Other forums are scheduled for the Boston neighborhood of Allston on Thursday and the western Massachusetts city of Pittsfield on Sunday.

Love And Pride Sale! Up to 70% OFF on Selected Products Buy Now! Special offers and sales for all products! Up to 70% off, Free Shipping! Buy Now!||||