Biden administration signs executive order protecting DACA program recipients
CENTRAL COAST, Calif. (KION) President Joe Biden signed an executive order to preserve DACA on his first day in office. Six of the 17 orders signed dealt with immigration policy.
This executive order provided relief to about 700,000 young individuals. Gabriela Cruz is one of them. She arrived to the United States with her mom when she was only one year old. When the DACA program was announced she had mixed feelings.
"I felt a little scared and anxious," said Cruz. "It was the first time I was going to expose myself to the government and give all of my information. I didn't know how they would use all my information."
At first, applying for DACA worried her and her mother. She was scared about all the information she had to provide. But, It was an emotional day when she received her DACA approval in the mail. And when Trump expressed he wanted to end the program those concerns returned.
“At that moment all the fears of my mother and my family to apply for DACA came true," said Gabriel Cruz. "Because we didn't know what was going to happen. That day I had to swallow all my fear, and go to work like every other immigrant who works in this country."
But Cruz is relieved with the new executive order that preserves DACA.
"This just means that we don't have to worry about renewing in two years," said Cruz. "There's also this promise of this immigration bill, um, that would possibly give us a pathway to citizenship."
A proposed legislation was also signed for a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants living in the United States. This group includes DACA recipients, farmworkers, and Temporary Protected Status holders. The bill is currently sitting in congress but lawyers say it could change.
"Even though it says one thing now when it finally passes it could be completely different," said immigration lawyer, Magnolia Zagarra."So we have been able to keep ourselves educated on what the final law ends up being."
This plan indicates that anyone could request temporary protection that would last five years and then apply for residency. But during those five years, they must declare taxes and comply with all the laws.
The DACA program provides a shield to people who were brought into the country at a young age from deportation.
According to USCIS, there are approximately 700,000 DACA recipients and 183,460 in California.
