Published: February 19, 2013
As of February 19, 2013, more than 438,000 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (“DACA”) applications have been received by U.S. Department of Homeland Security. DACA applicants are also known as “DREAMERS” since they make up the demographic that would presumably benefit from previously proposed legislation known as the DREAM Act – i.e. young adults brought to the U.S. as children and who have remained in the U.S., through no fault of their own, for an extended period. The vast majority of DACA applicants have been scheduled for, or have completed, their biometric fingerprinting process. Importantly, to this point, close to 200,000 applicants have been approved and issued 2 year deferred action status notices and 2 year employment authorization documents (EAD). These numbers and milestones are consistent with developments our office has seen with our clients’ applications, with clients receiving approvals and EAD’s within 8 weeks of filing in most cases. In general, our office has been seeing processing times range from 60 days to 120 days, although as more applications are received by DHS, an expanded processing time frame can be expected. Further, to extent an applicant’s background may involve a complicating factor, such as a criminal arrest or pending removal proceedings, application processing may be a bit slower.
Demographic Breakdown of Applicants:
Country of Origin and States of Residence
Origin Received to Date
Mexico 313,722
El Salvador 17,662
Honduras 11,509
Guatemala 10,644
Peru 6,244
South Korea 5,475
Brazil 5,283
Colombia 4,694
Ecuador 4,585
Philippines 3,128
Top 10 States of Residence Received to Date
California 119,466
Texas 68,005
New York 24,585
Illinois 21,602
Florida 19,336
North Carolina 15,637
Arizona 14,938
Georgia 13,946
New Jersey 13,374
Colorado 8,877
PUBLISHED February 19, 2013 – “IMMIGRATION LAW FORUM” Copyright © 2013, By Law Offices of Richard Hanus, Chicago, Illinois