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Only Half of Eligible Immigrants Sign Up for DACA

August 14, 2013 (1 min read)

"Stifled by a variety of obstacles — from fees to fear — fewer than half of those eligible for immigration relief have taken advantage of an Obama administration program launched a year ago, according to a new study.

About 49% of those eligible have applied for a work permit and a two-year reprieve from possible deportation, according to the Migration Policy Institute, a think tank in Washington D.C. that studies the worldwide movement of people.

This week marks the one-year anniversary of the implementation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which is intended to protect a group of people who came to the United States as children and stayed illegally.

Currently, 1.09 million people in the nation qualify for the program, which halts the deportation of those who are under 31-years-old and meet certain requirements, the institute reported. An estimated 538,000 have applied for the program, according to the institute, which used U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data paired with Census Bureau statistics for its findings." - Cindy Carcamo, Los Angeles Times, Aug. 14, 2013.

[See also: Immigration Facts: Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)]

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