Nonprofits Scramble to Respond to the New DACA Deadline
Since President Donald Trump’s administration ordered an end to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program on Sept. 5, nonprofit providers across New York City have responded to those directly affected by offering legal services and other help.
The move would phase out a program, created by then-President Barack Obama in a June 2012 executive order, that allows some 800,000 undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. in their youth to live, work and study in the country with proper documentation.
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said DACA won’t stand up to legal challenges and such an “open-ended circumvention of immigration laws was an unconstitutional exercise of authority.” The administration gave Congress six months to formalize the program into law.
Providers across New York, which is home to roughly 42,000 DACA recipients, are preparing for the worst.“With DACA being rescinded and nothing in its place, we will probably see poverty levels rising in immigrant communities,” said Jennifer Jones Austin, CEO and executive director of the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, an umbrella group that is working with and funding organizations that provide legal assistance, education grants and scholarships for DACA recipients...