Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) News: Catholic Charities Raising Funds for Dreamers in Houston; Deadline Will Not Be Extended
Catholic Charities are helping Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Dreamers complete their requirements for the upcoming deadline of application to renew their immigrant status. Meanwhile, there are no plans for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to extend the deadline.
DACA Dreamers residing in Houston are currently being assisted by Catholic Charities, who conduct multiple workshops every week to help participants find financial aid or help them complete their requirements, Click2Houston reports.
After Houston was hit with multiple hurricanes, Dreamers in the state are finding it difficult to pool enough money to spend for their renewal of applications for their immigrant status.
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It is also made especially difficult because of the short window remaining for submission, since the deadline was only announced last Sept. 5.
Zenobia Lai, legal director for the St. Francis Carbini Center for Immigration Legal Assitance, said that those who wish to renew their status should submit their applications ahead of the Oct. 5 deadline.
"It has to be received by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services by Oct. 5, which means that you absolutely have to put that application in the mail by the 3rd," explained Lai.
She also added that there will be a lot of pressure to those in legal assistance that will help DACA Dreamers finalize their immigration status before the program is fully terminated.
Meanwhile, the DHS will in no way extend the Oct. 5 deadline for DACA Dreamers, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department Brett Shumate said at a hearing in federal court last Tuesday, CNN confirmed.
The deadline remains even though District Judge Nicholas Garaufis, who officiated the hearing about allowing the government to end DACA entirely, said that it should be extended.
Judge Garaufis was shocked that the deadline won't be extended.
"I've worked in every branch of government ... and I've never seen a circumstance like this," said Garaufis, also wondering why the government is hurrying up to end the program.
"You can't come into court and espouse a position that's heartless. It's unacceptable to me as a human being and as a person," the judge said.
