In June 2012, President Obama announced Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). DACA allows young people of good moral character who came to the United States before they turned 16, are enrolled in school or have graduated from high school or have a GED, who were in the U.S. and under 31 on June 15, 2012, and who have been here at least five years, to receive employment authorization and protection from removal.
The program has been a real success for our clients. We have filed about thirty applications and all but one has been approved. Most were approved in 3-4 months; the slowest took about 7 months. We tried to work closely with clients to make sure they obtained the proof they would need to convince Immigration that they qualified. (The applicant in the one case that has not been approved came to the U.S. via the Mexican border a few months before he turned 16, but has not been able to find good proof of his presence in those early months.)
USCIS has done a good job in processing our cases timely and reasonably. The program has gone more smoothly than we expected and has improved the lives of a lot of young people.
