There are as high as more than 420,000 people who are young and could not apply for enjoying the privileges under DACA, provided by Obama administration.
Requirements for applying under DACA
The program which was launched two years back, wanted the applicants to meet certain criteria:
• Applicants should not be more than 31 years of age as on June 15, 2012.
• Must have come or brought to US before they completed the age of 16 years.
• Ever since they came they have been staying in the country uninterruptedly and should be present in US on June 15, 2012.
• Such applicants should have obtained a certificate of completing studies from a High School, or must have acquired a General Education Development (GED) certificate.
• Should not have been convicted for any criminal case.
People left behind
There are a large number of people who meet all the requirements mentioned but miss out on qualifying the criteria of holding a high school diploma or GED.
This refrained many from making an application to DACA and make their stay a legal act in the country.
Taking Arizona as an example, there are about 14,000 people who are otherwise eligible for making an application but, lack only in one area that is the educational qualification.
People are now rushing for enrolling themselves into a school so that they can meet all the requirements for becoming a part of DACA. And hence enjoy the status of “DREAMERS” in the country, as the program refers to.
It has brought surprise all around to hear that someone who did not complete high school years back, can now get back to a school, obtain a certificate on successful completion and hence qualify for DACA.
Those who have applied
By the mid of this year as many as more than 40% of the people who qualify for this program have applied, the total number of this population being 1.6 million. This has been published by Migration Policy Institute, Washington D.C.
There are many activists who believe that educational qualification should not be criteria for holding back people from enjoying a legal status in the country. In fact they strongly oppose the view of deporting those who meet all the other criteria but not the educational qualification required to apply for DACA. Many applicants who meet every single criterion have not submitted under this program as a mark of protest against the requirements set by the Government.
Obama Administration is quite keen to provide an opportunity to those who came here as children and now have grown up to be adults. The Administration feels that they are not at fault for their illegal mean of arrival to the country. And hence, criteria have been set for them to apply under a program imitated two years back. But, there are agencies and groups who do not find any justification for some of the criteria mentioned by the Administration.