Office of New Bostonians: What Deferred Action Means for Young Immigrants

Reverend Cheng Imm Tan, Director Mayor’s Office of NEW BOSTONIANS, June 29, 2012

There is a lot of excitement and questions about the recently announced Deferred Action for young immigrants. Community partners have shared with us that they have received many calls and have also been made aware of several scam activities where people have been offered assistance to file for Deferred Action for several thousand dollars.

Guidance for  the Application process for the Deferred Action  will not be available till August 14. Until then, it is important to spread the word that applications CANNOT be made till then and to careful of scams that promise to assist people to apply now.

Please take a look at the enclosed information sent by USCIS and distribute as widely as possible. You can also visit the Students for Immigrant Movement website at Simforus.com for helpful information regarding community forums and informational flyers in different languages, as well as send them information that you would like to share with everyone. The Student Immigrant Movement has agreed to host all community information and resources e.g community forums, informational flyers etc on their website.

Thank you all for working together to help young immigrants and their families and to prevent scams. ############################################### USCIS: Prosecutorial Discretion for Certain Young People

As of June 15, 2012, certain young people brought to the United States as children are eligible to request deferred action. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is developing a process for these young people to request deferred action and will implement the process within 60 days.

DO NOT REQUEST DEFERRED ACTION YET! USCIS is not yet accepting requests for deferred action through this process Until USCIS announces how to request deferred action... DO: Visit www.uscis.gov to learn more about the announcement, eligibility criteria and to find the latest updates. Contact USCIS for more information at 1-800-375-5283. Contact ICE at 1-888-351-4024 if you are currently in removal proceedings and meet the criteria explained below. Visit www.uscis.gov/avoidscams to learn more about how you can avoid becoming a victim of an immigration service scam. The Wrong Help Can Hurt! DO NOT: • Pay anyone who claims they can request deferred action on your behalf or apply for employment authorization through this new process before USCIS announces an implementation date. • Send an application seeking work authorization related to this process. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano issued a memorandum setting forth criteria that make certain individuals eligible for an exercise of prosecutorial discretion to prevent them from being placed into removal proceedings or removed from the United States. To be considered on an individualized basis for deferred action under this process, an individual must:

• Have come to the United States under the age of sixteen;
• Have continuously resided in the United States for at least five years preceding June 15, 2012 and have been physically present in the United States on June 15, 2012;
• Currently be in school, have graduated from high school, have obtained a general education development certificate, or be an honorably discharged veteran of the Coast Guard or Armed Forces of the United States;
• Not have been convicted of a felony offense, a significant misdemeanor offense, multiple misdemeanor offenses, or otherwise pose a threat to national security or public safety;
• Not be above the age of thirty.

For additional information regarding this new process for certain young people, please visit www.uscis.gov or call 1-800-375-5283. Customer assistance is available in English and Spanish.