Recently, several local donors provided funding to cover filing fees for a number of young San Diegans applying for renewal under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (“DACA”) program with assistance from the IRC in San Diego's Immigration department. DACA was started in 2012 by the Obama Administration and allows certain undocumented individuals to gain temporary relief from deportation, usually for humanitarian reasons, as well as work authorization. With the future of the DACA program uncertain under the Trump administration, the IRC in San Diego has been reaching out to DACA recipients to encourage renewal for those who are eligible while the option still remains. 

The DACA program was created in order to help those who immigrated to the United States when they were children, usually through circumstances out of their control. Among other criteria, recipients have no criminal background, are pursuing a high school diploma or equivalent; have continually resided in the United States, and immigrated before age 16. The Migration Policy Institute estimates that there are 25,000 DACA-eligible people in San Diego County, which constitutes about an eighth of the unauthorized population.  Since the program began in 2012, the IRC in San Diego has helped over 200 hundred people apply for DACA.

Recipients under the program finally have the opportunity to work legally and live without the fear of deportation. However, the program does not provide a path to a “green card” or permanent residence in the United States and recipients must prove that they meet all the eligibility criteria every two years when they seek renewal.

For some DACA recipients, the fees required to apply for renewal are a significant barrier to accessing continued relief.  One local family that the IRC reached out to faced just that situation. Both parents were DACA recipients, but due to hospital bills from a recent medical emergency for one of their US citizen children, they simply did not have the funds to pay the nearly $500 filing fee required to apply for each of their renewal applications. While the IRC provides filing assistance free of charge, in the past funding has not been available to help with the filing fees due to the US government. Thankfully, several local donors stepped up to meet this need enabling the IRC to cover filing fees for this family and a number of other applicants, removing the financial barrier to at least a few more years of peace of mind for their families. 

Many DACA recipients have not been to their countries of origin since they were small children and the only home they have known is the United States. The IRC in San Diego Immigration Supervisor Vanessa Dojaquez says "these are children and young adults that have done everything that society has asked of them. They have stayed out of trouble, taken seriously their educations yet still find themselves living in limbo." Cancellation of the program would result in those recipients losing their jobs and facing possible deportation.