California’s largest immigrant rights organization is calling on DACA-recipients to renew their federally issued work permits now in anticipation of possible cuts to immigration services after President-elect Donald Trump returns to office.
The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights Los Angeles, a nonprofit that offers immigration legal services, is urging so-called Dreamers to renew work authorizations in light of Trump’s stated plans to phase out the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allowed people brought to the U.S. as children to receive temporary protected immigration status.
“We just really have to be ready for anything,” said Karla Aguayo, the organization’s director of legal services. “But we also have to be realistic. And though the hysteria right now is mass deportations, even that has a process. People are due their due process rights.”
Trump has promised the largest deportation effort in American history, which is causing fear, frustration and anxiety among the hundreds of thousands of unauthorized immigrants living in the greater L.A. area.
As of March 2023, about 70,000 people with active DACA status lived in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metro area, according to USC Dornsife’s most recent State of Immigrants in LA County report.
Aguayo said immigration services were “severely understaffed” during the first Trump term, which led to long delays in paperwork processing. By renewing work permits now, DACA recipients can ensure they’re valid for the next two years.
The organization is also urging green card holders to apply for naturalization. During Trump’s first term, backlogs for citizenship were over a year long, Aguayo said.
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