Many Grown Child Immigrants Still Not Taking Advantage of Revised US Policy
By Pat Loeb
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Two years after it was created, the US policy that has given relief to more than a half-million illegal immigrants who arrived in the United States as children is still not being used by thousands more who are eligible for it.
Maria Sotomayor says she came to Pennsylvania from Ecuador, with her parents, when she was nine. As she grew older, she came to understand her status was illegal and what that meant: "Things like not getting a driver's license, having to lie to my friends."
So, Sotomayor applied for "DACA" -- Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals -- very soon after it took effect, in 2012. She got a driver's license and was able to visit Ecuador for the first time in more than a decade.
"And my family and friends came to see me while I was there, and it was the first time I was able to see my grandmom," she notes.
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Now, Sotomayor works legally for the Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition, helping others apply for DACA. She says the application fee, lack of awareness, and simple fear keep some people from applying. But she hopes more will take the step.
"It's amazing how a plastic card can really change a lot," she says, recalling her own victory in obtaining a driver's license.
A study by the Migration Policy Institute found that nearly 700,000 of the 1.2 million people eligible for DACA have applied for it. In Pennsylvania, just 4,500 of an estimated 16,000 have applied.
And New Jersey has one of the lowest rates: just 18,000 applicants from an estimated 86,000 eligible (about 21 percent).
"The more eligible youth apply for this program, the more this program is likely to be renewed," Sotomayor tells KYW Newsradio.