Part of the Obama Plan: Extend Deferred Action to Parents of U.S. Citizens and Lawful Permanent Residents
This is the last in our series of posts of the various components of President Obama’s recently announced executive action on immigration.
As outlined in detail by the Department of Homeland Security, President Obama’s recently announced immigration plan has quite a few components. One of the immigration initiatives is “Extend Deferred Action to Parents of U.S. Citizens and Lawful Permanent Residents”:
“DHS will extend eligibility for deferred action to individuals who (i) are not removal priorities under our new policy, (ii) have been in this country at least 5 years, (iii) have children who on the date of this announcement are U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents, and (iv) present no other factors that would make a grant of deferred action inappropriate. These individuals will be assessed for eligibility for deferred action on a case-by-case basis, and then be permitted to apply for work authorization, provided they pay a fee. Each individual will undergo a thorough background check of all relevant national security and criminal databases, including DHS and FBI databases. With work-authorization, these individuals will pay taxes and contribute to the economy.” (emphasis added).
In a memorandum, DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson explained the rationale for this exercise of prosecutorial discretion and its expansion and directed
“USCIS to establish a process, similar to DACA, for exercising prosecutorial discretion through the use of deferred action, on a case-by-case basis, to those individuals who:
• have, on the date of this memorandum, a son or daughter who is a U.S . citizen or lawful permanent resident ;
• have continuously resided in the United States since before January 1 , 2010;
• are physically present in the United States on the date of this memorandum, and at the time of making a request for consideration of deferred action with USCIS;
• have no lawful status on the date of this memorandum;
• are not an enforcement priority as reflected in the November 20, 2014 Policies for the Apprehension, Detention and Removal of Undocumented Immigrants Memorandum; and
• present no other factors that, in the exercise of discretion, makes the grant of deferred action inappropriate.”
This component is one of the most significant steps in the Obama plan. It expands the current DACA program to the undocumented parents of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents. It moves beyond deferred action for children to adult parents. The new program is scheduled to accept applications in six months.
Notably, the memorandum concludes as follows: “This memorandum confers no substantive right, immigration status or pathway to citizenship. Only an Act of Congress can confer these rights. It remains within the authority of the Executive Branch, however, to set forth policy for the exercise of prosecutorial discretion and deferred action within the framework of existing law. This memorandum is an exercise of that authority.” (emphasis added).
KJ