By David Cruz
Correspondent
It inspired a rush of emotion from both sides of the issue, supporters calling it a positive first step and opponents calling it executive branch overreach. There’s been a lot of talk about what the president’s deferred action policy is but it’s important — say immigrant advocates — to remember what it’s not.
“Deferred action is a 3-year temporary reprieve from deportation,” noted Sara Cullinane. “It’s a temporary protection from deportation. That’s all it is.”
The president essentially made a choice on which immigrants — of the nearly 11 million here without proper authorization — to deport, as he put it last week the priorities are “Felons not families. Criminal, not children. Gang members, not a mom who’s working hard to provide for her kids.”
Cullinane’s group provides legal and other assistance for immigrants in New York and in Elizabeth. She says once you apply for deferred action you can apply for work authorization. With that comes a social security card, a driver’s license, and potentially in-state college tuition, among other benefits.
The president’s action makes it possible for millions of undocumented to as he put it “get right with the law” but with that opportunity also comes some risk.
Lawyers, some seemingly legit, offering assistance on filling forms related to the new rules. Others, so-called Notarios, asking for payments up front in order to process forms. Cullinane says immigrants need to be wary.
“Applications are not currently open for deferred action,” warned Cullinane. “They won’t be open for childhood arrivals until probably February and for adults until probably May and so anyone that’s promising to submit an application right now or charging money to submit an application right now probably doesn’t have your best interest at heart.”
Cullinane says there are multiple non-partisan on-line resources for information. Ramon Collazo is the Pastor at Santa Isabel in Elizabeth, where close to 70 percent of residents are immigrants. He says the congregation will hold an information forum on Wednesday.
“They can start gathering some information and also so that they are not taken advantage of by certain people who are now trying to charge them money before even having a clear idea of the application and what are the things that they need,” he said.
Immigration Attorney Eric Marks says he recommends participation in the program on a case-by-case basis. Many immigrants will jump at the chance, but others may see a risk in making themselves known to authorities.
“If you have anything that might disqualify you from qualifying and you say alright I’m going to apply and see what happens and then you get denied, it’s possible you can get referred to ICE for deportation, so there’s a lot of risk there,” he said.
So much so that up to 40 percent of the eligible could opt to stay in the shadows, such is the distrust engendered by a system that even the hardest of the hardliners agrees is too broken to effectively fix, even by a succession of presidential executive orders.
For more information visit www.uscis.gov