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DACA is Back

Updated: Feb 21, 2022

On December 4, 2020, U.S. District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis ordered the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to reinstate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals also known as DACA immediately.

The order restores the program to its original form before the Trump Administration put an end to it in 2017. In a major shift, work permits will no longer be issued for only one year as in the July decision signed by Acting Homeland Security secretary Chad Wolf.  This means that Dreamers are allowed to dream again. Although DACA renewals remain open, the order allows DACA recipients or eligible applicants to:


  1. Apply for the first time for DACA

  2. Qualify for Advance Parole

  3. Extended their current one-year renewals for a two-year period


Although it was already expected that president-elect Joe Biden would reinstate DACA as one of his first moves once in office, having the DHS’ decision overturned during the Trump Administration is a big win for immigrants in the U.S. that depend of DACA to work or study, or both. Times are tough for all right now and even tougher for 640,000 immigrants that depend on the DACA program. This number is likely to increase with more immigrants qualifying for the program such as high school graduates.


However, DACA’s reinstatement is still not a final ruling and a hearing will be scheduled for later this month to decide whether the program is lawful or not. A clear path to citizenship will not become available until Congress passes a law allowing dreamers to qualify for the naturalization process. But this will be no easy feat during the Biden administration. Although Biden has said he would like to see a way for DACA recipients and undocumented immigrants to be able to qualify for U.S. citizenship, this may be hard to achieve with a Republican-held Senate.


Still, today’s decision is a huge win and a step in the right direction. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to get the latest on the DACA program as more information becomes available.


If you would like to apply for DACA for the first time or Advance Parole, call us today at (385) 334-4030, send an email to info@skvlegal.com, or schedule a one-hour immigration consultation at https://www.skvlegal.com/bookings-checkout/immigration-consultation?referral=service_list_widget.



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