Many people in Asbury Park heard about the program President Obama started last year after Congress's failure to pass the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act. By using an executive order, President Obama was able to stop the deportation of youth in New Jersey and elsewhere who would have been eligible under the Dream Act. Although many immigration lawyers and immigrant groups praised the president for the program, many are now asking the president to expand the program to anyone at risk of deportation, at least until Congress passes an immigration reform bill.
There are many people who are at risk for deportation because they are in the country without any legal permission. These individuals may become known to the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement organization by a variety of ways, but it is often because of something minor, like getting caught with false identification papers. Because these people are often considered criminals, they have little hope of leniency from deportation.
The government says that each deportation case is looked at individually, and factors such as a person's length of stay in the U.S., whether he or she has any family here, and his or her police record are all to be considered. What sorts of weight those factors have, however, is still hard to determine.
Once the immigration reform bill is completed and has passed, many are hoping that there will be a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million people living in the country without the legal permission to do so. Until that bill is passed, however, many of these people could still face the horrifying threat of deportation.
Source: The Washington Post, "Illegal immigrant workers ask not to be deported while Congress debates," Pamela Constable, July 22, 2013
