By Joanna Gardner
For Claudia Piña and her husband Rafael Trinidad, President Obama’s announcement Nov. 20 of an executive action extending deportation relief to millions of undocumented immigrants was cause for both celebration and sadness.
While Piña and her husband qualify for relief under the action — the youngest of their four children was born in the United States and is a citizen — Rafael’s cousin and his wife, parents of two children who they brought with them to the United States, do not.
“As much as we benefit, there are also parts of our families that do not benefit. One part of us is sad because it would be better if everyone qualified,” Piña said.
The package of administrative actions includes reprioritizing who the government will target for deportation, cracking down primarily on dangerous criminals and new arrivals at the border.
Obama’s orders basically would expand upon the 2-year-old program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. Through it, more than half a million young adults and teens who came to the U.S. as minors have been promised they won’t be deported if they stay out of trouble.
The new program would offer the same deal to parents of U.S. citizens or green card holders who have lived here for at least five years, a potential pool of more than 4 million people, according to the White House.
Piña’s oldest daughter, Mayra Trinidad, was born in Mexico and came with her parents to the United States when she was 3 years old. She is now 21 and qualifies for DACA, Obama’s 2012 executive order.
Under that order she has been able to further her education and is enrolled in the Harris School of Business, studying healthcare assistance. She said the new policy covering her parents is a relief.
“We’re not going to have this fear that one day we’re going to wake up and not see them anymore,” Trinidad said of herself and her three younger siblings.
“In our immediate area we’re certainly going to have significant numbers of people that are eligible for this program,” said Jeffrey DeCristofaro, executive director of the Camden Center for Law and Social Justice, a faith-based public interest law center that assists immigrants and victims of domestic violence.
The new program, known as DAPA, Deferred Action for Parental Accountability, is not expected to be available until next spring, although the extension to DACA will most likely go into effect sooner. In the meantime, the biggest concern of the Camden Center for Law and Social Justice and similar organizations is education.
“Our most important mission right now is to get proper information to people because there are a lot of scam artists out there,” DeCristofaro said.
Non-lawyers will often offer to fill out paperwork for a fee in the wake of these announcements. People should know that forms are not available at this time and that the new policy is not a path to citizenship or a green card. They should not pay anyone except a lawyer or a Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) accredited agency for assistance with filing forms, DeCristofaro said.
Also, filing for DAPA with a criminal history can put undocumented individuals at risk of deportation.
The law center will be putting together resources and workshops to help educate the community. They also field phone calls and e-mails with general inquiries about the program and who’s eligible.
“The idea behind the new program is that it’s going to bring people out of the shadows, people who are living and working in our communities already,” said Kaitlyn Muller, director of Catholic Charities’ Refugee and Immigration Services program.
“It’s is an extension of what the courts are already doing. It will continue the administration’s focus on going after criminals, rather than upstanding community members, and keeping families together. That makes for more stable lives in the community,” Muller said.
Andres Arango is the Bishop’s Delegate for Hispanic Ministry in the Diocese of Camden. He said that his office’s main concern for now is also education, partnering with organizations that provide help, like the Camden Center for Law and Social Justice, and making information available to parishes.
“The position of the church is no more separation of families and a path to citizenship,” Arango said. “We have to celebrate this step because it’s a big one to stall for a while the separation of families. It’s positive but it’s still not a path to citizenship. We need to keeping working because we really need comprehensive immigration reform, something that will be permanent.”
Claudia Piña and her family, parishioners of St. Joseph Pro-Cathedral in Camden, regularly attend the church’s packed 11 a.m. Spanish Mass. Last Sunday they joined a group of parishioners after Mass to be briefed on how the action might affect them and their families.
Luis Enrique Olarte, another parishioner, listened attentively as Sister Veronica Roche, pastoral associate at St. Joseph’s, explained the new policy.
Olarte is the father of two children, one born in the U.S. He and his wife now qualify under DAPA for deferred action on deportation. He said he has been afraid of being deported and separated from his family since coming to the U.S. in 1999.
“It’s a light after so much darkness,” Olarte said of the new action. “It’s the beginning of something very good that’s coming for everyone.”
If you or your family have questions about the new policy and your eligibility, contact the Camden Center for Law and Social Justice, 856-583-2950, or e-mail info@ccsj.org
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