Year-old Immigrant Program Opens Doors for Undocumented Youth - Higher Education

Year-old Immigrant Program Opens Doors for Undocumented Youth - Higher Education: It’s been one year since the Obama administration enacted the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) immigration directive. The measure, which took effect August 15, 2012, has provided work authorization and a temporary reprieve from deportation for more than 400,000 immigrant youths who have qualified under DACA guidelines.

An analysis by the Migration Policy Institute’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy has found that 49 percent of those currently eligible to apply have done so. Between August 15, 2012, and June 30, 2013, 400,562 of 537,662 applicants met DACA approval, according to the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) analysis. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) agency has denied DACA approval to one percent of applicants, or 5,383, with the rest, or 24 percent, awaiting a decision.

In “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals at the One-Year Mark: A Profile of Currently Eligible Youth and Applicants,” MPI researchers write that DACA recipients are now benefiting from having access to driver’s licenses in all states except Arizona and Nebraska, lower college tuition in a number of states and a wider range of jobs and educational opportunities. DACA provides immigrant youths who were brought to the U.S. as minors a renewable, two-year reprieve from deportation.