http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/apr/22/995-of-illegal-immigrants-get-approval-for-legal-s/
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The Washington Times
The administration has approved 99.5 percent of applications of those
who have applied for legal status under President Obama’s
nondeportation policy for young adults, granting legal status to more
than 250,000 formerly illegal immigrants.
Officials said they
expect the approval rate to drop as more cases make their way through
the system, as it takes longer to deny an application than to approve
it. Indeed, the approval rate already has dropped from 99.8 percent just
a month ago.
But
the high rate leaves others wondering whether the administration is
doing all it can to weed out fraud or potentially dangerous illegal
immigrants in DACA, or the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
program, as it’s formally known.
“You really have to wonder who they’re giving deferred action to, and what kind of risk they represent to us,” said
Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the
Center for Immigration Studies.
“The screening process is much less for DACA than it would be for a
green card, and so it’s all that much more susceptible to fraud.”
DACA is seen by many as a test-run should
Congress pass a broad legalization for most of the 11 million illegal immigrants in the U.S.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), left, shouts at Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y., not ... more >
That
means the pressure is on Homeland Security to get it right, and
officials say they are taking steps to combat fraud, including warning
that bogus applicants will be prosecuted and deported.
Mr. Obama
created the program last summer to try to help illegal immigrants who
were brought to the U.S. as children by their parents.
His policy
allows them to remain and work in the U.S. on tentative legal status
with no fear of deportation, though they do not have a direct path to
citizenship. That path could come, though, under the immigration bill
senators are beginning to debate, which would give DACA-approved
immigrants a speedier chance at citizenship.
On Monday, one of those legalized under DACA pleaded with
Congress to give her that chance.
“Legalizing
people like me, the 11 million of us, will make the United States
stronger and will bring about significant economic gains,” said
Gabriel Pacheco, who was brought to the U.S. from
Ecuador at age 8 by her parents. “Doing nothing is no longer acceptable.”
Her
situation captures the complexities of American immigration: One of her
sisters is about to earn citizenship as the wife of a U.S. citizen,
with two citizen children; another sister is here illegally and didn’t
qualify for DACA because she was too old; and her younger brother, 27,
who owns a carwashing business, did qualify.
Ms. Pacheco’s
husband, meanwhile, is a Venezuelan who has lived in the U.S. for 26
years and earned his green card last year after an 18-year wait.
Mr. Obama announced the DACA policy in June, and the government began taking applications in August.
It
was a galvanizing moment for immigrant rights advocates, and Hispanic
voters in particular rewarded the president by voting for his
re-election in overwhelming numbers.
The policy applies to illegal
immigrants who were brought to the U.S. before age 16 and who were not
yet 31 when the program was announced.
Illegal immigrants with
serious criminal records aren’t supposed to qualify. To be eligible,
applicants must have graduated from high school or earned an equivalency
degree or served in the military.
Through the first 7 months of the program, U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services (USCIS) approved 268,316 illegal immigrants for tentative legal status, while denying just 1,377 applications.
A
Homeland Security official said the denials will tick up as time
passes. Those whom the department plans to reject are given time to
submit more evidence or appeal their denial, while approvals go through
immediately.
For example, while
USCIS
approved 29,793 applications in the first six weeks of the program, it
denied just six applications, or one out of every 5,000. But in March,
the agency approved about 98.2 percent, meaning it denied nine out of
every 500 applications.
“
USCIS
has issued some denials but expects denial rates to increase once
requests for evidence and notice of intent to deny responses are
received and reviewed by
USCIS,” a Homeland Security official said.
Louis “Don” Crocetti Jr., who retired in 2011 after serving as the head of the
USCIS fraud branch, also predicted his old agency’s denial rate will rise because of how it handles cases.
“It’s
not uncommon, in fact it is more common than not, that the questionable
cases are put on the back end in order to [make sure] the more
deserving candidates get the benefit,” said
Mr. Crocetti, who now runs the Immigration Integrity Group, a consultancy.
Cesar
Vargas, one of those who has gained legal status under DACA and is
executive political director of DRM Action Coalition, said the high
approval rate makes sense given who is in this pool of immigrants.
“I
am not surprised, just as most Americans and senators should not be not
surprised, since many of the DACA applicants who applied were youth and
students who were committed to their school and work,” Mr. Vargas said.
“Dreamers have been in the U.S. for most of our lives such that it was
not as difficult to put the paperwork proving our presence and moral
character.”
Through the end of March, the department had received 472,004 completed applications and had settled nearly 270,000 of them.
Mr. Crocetti
said DACA is a chance for the administration to test its screening
process as it prepares for the possibility of a broad legalization for
all 11 million illegal immigrants now in the U.S.
“We are in a
post-9/11 world, as most recently evinced by the events in Boston,” he
said. “This is a pivotal time that we have to get this right. We have to
screen these people accurately, and we really have to know what are the
key indicators to look for when these people file.”
Unlike the 1986 amnesty, when every applicant was interviewed in person and there still was double-digit fraud
Mr. Crocetti
said that’s not likely to be an option this time around. But he said
technology has become so advanced that the agency can come up with
analytical tools that can predict applications most likely to be
fraudulent.
Ms. Vaughan, the policy director at the
Center for Immigration Studies,
which favors a crackdown on immigration, said that in the wake of the
Boston Marathon bombings that should be a priority for any legalization
program, including the ongoing DACA system.
“That’s very
concerning in light of the most recent reminder namely this terror
attack in Boston, near where I live,” she said, “that we simply are not
taking enough care in screening the people we admit for legal status
whether it’s this kind of deferred action or a green card or an asylum
application.”
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