Immigration News Today: Government Officials to Visit DACA Recipients' Homes With Erroneous DACA Work Permits
Federal agents will begin making house visits to undocumented immigrants who received work papers under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program (DACA) but with the wrong expiration date.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on Wednesday that they will begin visiting the homes of some DACA beneficiaries who were mistakenly issued three-year work permits and have yet to return them. They were supposed to receive permits that granted eligible immigrants a two-year work permit. Instead, the Obama administration issued hundreds of the faulty documents back in November 2014.
"USCIS officials will soon begin to visit the listed address of certain individuals who have not yet returned an invalid three-year employment authorization document (EAD) for the purpose of retrieving these EADs," the agency explained in a statement, according to conservative website Breitbart. "USCIS has already attempted, or is in the process of attempting, to notify all recipients by mail and phone that the three-year EADs are no longer valid and must be immediately returned."
The agency also stated that the people in the homes will not be subjected to questioning or any penalties.
"Individuals who received these three-year EADs are not being penalized for requesting DACA, they are merely being reissued the correct two-year cards," the agency said.
However, USCIS warns that others who do not return their three-year permits by July 30, 2015, will find their DACA status terminated.
"Home visits are expected to begin as early as Thursday, July 15, in Chicago, Los Angeles and possibly Dallas and Houston, only to some homes of the just over 1,000 individuals for whom this applies," reads a press release.
"It's alarming that a mistake by USCIS could cost hundreds of immigrant youth their DACA and their work permits. The administration's mistake could cost immigrant youth jobs, opportunities for school, and driver's licenses," said Cristina Jimenez, managing director of United We Dream, in a statement. "These are people who paid the fees, applied on time, were approved for DACA, and now, because of an error, are at risk of losing their protection from deportation.
Immigrant rights advocates also fear that the visits will cause confusion and panic.
"While immigrant communities might be confused and fearful of this, USCIS's goal is only to retrieve the three-year work permit and replace it with a two-year permit in order fully to comply with Judge Hanen's order," said Marielena Hincapié, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center.
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