Immigration Reform News 2014: Communities Prepare as President Obama Eyes Executive Action on Immigration Reform
Reports of President Barack Obama's intentions to take executive action on immigration reform have spurred some of the areas with large populations of immigrants to prepare their residents for whatever relief may come, according to NBC.
Communities in California, and specifically Los Angeles where the state's highest undocumented population resides, are preparing for the influx of temporary work permits and other forms that will be submitted to shield the residents from deportation.
The Pew Research Center estimated in 2012 that Los Angeles is home to 2.45 million undocumented immigrants.
Community groups, churches, some lawmakers and even schools have been taking steps to help ensure the immigrants are not scammed by fake notaries.
Steven Zimmer, a member of the Los Angeles Unified School District board, told NBC that the district is reverting to lessons learned in 1986, when the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan.
The law, at the time, granted legal status to about 3 million undocumented immigrants. The country is faced with a population of immigrants more than three times that number if Obama takes action.
"The challenge sometimes with DACA and whatever the guidelines for executive action is that there has been so much fear amongst families that are undocumented or have mixed documented status in their families," Zimmer told NBC. "When you have fear of being found you don't like to sign things. When we have this executive action, the proof is what you signed."
Schools have taken on the role of offering community support to the immigrants in areas where there are not populations as large as Los Angeles.
"What we've learned from DACA is that filling out the form is not the hard part, it's putting together the documentation that supports that petition for administrative relief," Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., told NBC.
Gabriel Salguero, president of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition, told NBC that preparations have been going on for almost two years and churches have since been warning their congregations to ensure they have all the proper documents ready.
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