Washington Post:
By Pamela Constable
February 25, 2016
President
Obama’s embattled plan to provide temporary deportation relief and work
permits to illegal immigrants with U.S.-born children — a proposal the
Supreme Court
is due to review this year — could benefit more than 10 million people
in families with eligible members, increasing their household income by
10 percent, two research institutes said in a report released Thursday .
Obama
announced the executive action in late 2014, but it was challenged in
court by 26 states, which argued that he had overstepped his authority
and that the program
would impose an unfair financial burden on them. The program was
blocked by federal courts; only a favorable high court ruling this
summer would allow Obama to implement it before he leaves office.
According
to the report by the Migration Policy Institute and the Urban
Institute, both based in the District, the impact of Obama’s Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) would resonate far beyond the
estimated 3.6 million illegal immigrants, mostly from Mexico and Central
America, whose children are U.S. citizens or legal residents.
The
report found that the average household with at least one DAPA
recipient could increase its income by about $3,000 if the recipient
obtained a work permit and earned
the same pay as a legal resident who had similar skills, educational
ability and other traits. Currently, the report said, 36 percent of
families eligible for DAPA live below the poverty line; the average
income for such families is $31,000.
About
1 million people are eligible for DAPA in California, followed by Texas
and New York. Virginia ranks 12th, with 61,000, and Maryland ranks
13th, with 56,000.
Obama
announced a second action in 2014 offering similar benefits to an
expanded group of young illegal immigrants, which also was blocked by
the courts. Both initiatives
were among a series of Obama administration efforts to help some of the
country’s estimated 11 million illegal immigrants gain legal relief
after Congress failed to enact comprehensive immigration reform.
Many
critics, including a majority of Republicans in Congress and the top
Republican candidates for president, have opposed Obama’s executive
actions as conferring “amnesty”
on illegal immigrants and have said they would cancel such programs.
Immigrant
advocacy groups across the country have said that if the Supreme Court
rules favorably on DAPA this summer, they will be ready to help millions
of people apply
as quickly as possible. Many have held workshops instructing older
illegal immigrants to gather their income, rent, identity and other
documents so they can apply right away.
The
program would offer those with clean police records, proof of long-term
residency and other documentation a three-year initial reprieve from
deportation and a work
permit with a Social Security card.
The
report found that although they are poorer than other families with
underage children, DAPA-eligible families are “well-settled with strong
U.S. roots.” It found that
69 percent of illegal immigrants eligible for DAPA, mostly born in
Mexico, have lived in the United States for at least a decade, and that
one-quarter have lived here at least 20 years. It also said that about
85 percent of underage children living with DAPA-eligible
parents are U.S. citizens who were born here.
The
report found that 95 percent of men eligible for DAPA are in the U.S.
labor force, so obtaining the new benefits would have “little impact” on
labor-force participation.
Only 52 percent of eligible women are working, but the report said that
percentage was unlikely to grow significantly.
Most
illegal immigrants work in menial jobs such as agricultural fieldwork,
restaurant kitchen work, hotel and office cleaning, landscaping, and
semi-skilled construction.
The
report followed studies by the institutes that found in homes where
children are U.S.-born but their parents remain in the country
illegally, those children can be
held back from succeeding because of family stress, fear of parents
being deported, poverty and reluctance to seek services and benefits.
“Fear
of deportation is ever-present in these families,” the report said,
noting that the deportation of a DAPA-eligible father would reduce
family income by an average
of $24,000 a year, changing its economic status from “near-poor” to
“deep poverty.”
If
the Supreme Court permits DAPA to go ahead, the report said, “the
program has the potential to improve the incomes and living standards
for many unauthorized immigrant
families.”
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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