Asylum seekers have fled dangerous conditions in their homeland; as distinguished poet Warsan Shire wrote “no one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark”. Unfortunately, many asylum seekers currently in the US are finding themselves in dire circumstances in our country as our asylum process is under severe stress from the record high encounters reported at the US – Mexico border. The depths of the bureaucracy involved in the asylum process lead many asylees to question their decision to flee the mouth of a shark, as they find themselves trying to stay afloat in shark infested waters.
Read moreDACA is Codified, but Remains in Jeopardy
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (“DACA”) program celebrated a decade of existence earlier this year. DACA went into effect as an executive order signed by President Obama to protect undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as minors without “the formal agency rulemaking process, which requires public notice and comment”. It was intended as a “stopgap measure to protect some of the nation’s most vulnerable immigrants”, from deportation and allow beneficiaries to obtain work authorization and reside legally in the US. DACA was never meant to be a permanent solution but a means to be used for a limited time until Congress passed new immigration legislation addressing the immigration status of certain undocumented minors.
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