WEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - A looming deadline is bringing up mixed emotions amid young immigrants in South Florida, as thousands of “Dreamers” across the nation raced to renew their applications.
President Donald Trump is ending the Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, also known as DACA. The Obama-era program protects hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants from deportation.
However, there is an exception. Those whose legal status expires before March 5, 2018 have until Oct. 5 to file for a renewal.
On Saturday, the Florida International University College of Law hosted an event to help young immigrants through the process.
Jose Diaz with the FIU Law Clinic said “Dreamers” are concerned about the implications of the commander in chief’s decision, for themselves and their loved ones. “We have a lot of young people that are worried for themselves and their future, and what they’re going to do,” he said. “They’re worried about their family, because most of them, their family members, remain undocumented, and now that they lose their status, they lose their main source of income or, for some cases, some of their families, because they don’t know financially what they’re going to do.”
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service will not accept any renewal applications after Oct. 5.
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