WASHINGTON: Immigration authorities were bracing for a deluge of applications yesterday, the first day when more than 1.2 million young illegal immigrants brought to the US as children could seek to legally stay and work.
Even before the first request was filed, critics and advocates alike warned of potential budget shortfalls and a logjam of paperwork that might mar the initiative, delay processing and facilitate fraud.
Advocacy groups planned public celebrations, legal aid seminars and other events to herald the program, the result of a policy change by the President, Barack Obama. It sparked rejoicing and relief in immigrant communities, but anger among Republicans, who view it as a White House ploy for Latino support in an election year and a backdoor amnesty that usurps Congressional authority.
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services expects about 1.2 million applications on top of the 6 million it normally adjudicates for citizenship, residency and work visas each year.
Advocacy groups estimate more than 1.7 million undocumented children and young adults may be eligible, although it’s unknown how many will apply or when. Those granted approval will be authorised to work and will get a two-year deferral from deportation.
Some activists worried a future president could overturn the order, and that undocumented immigrants who turn over their paperwork have no guarantee they will not be deported if their applications are rejected.
”The undocumented youth I’ve met are so excited about finally being able to be counted, there will be a push to apply on the first day,” said David Leopold, an immigration lawyer in Cleveland. ”But I think people should take a breath and make sure they do it right, not right now.”
Undocumented immigrants younger than 31 who came to the US before they were 16 are eligible if they are enrolled in school, graduated from high school or served in the armed forces, and have no criminal record, among other criteria.
When he unveiled the plan in June, Mr Obama said his order did not offer amnesty or immunity, and did not create a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. He called it only ”a temporary stopgap measure”.
A Republican congressman from Texas, Lamar Smith, denounced the program as a ”magnet for fraud and abuse” designed to win votes for Mr Obama.
Among those waiting to apply was Manuel Bartsch, 25, who came to the US from Germany when he was 11. He said he learnt only when he took college placement exams in 2005 that his family had never applied for legal residency. He has faced the threat of deportation ever since.
Ivan Maldonado, 17, who arrived from Mexico when he was six, will apply so that he can finish high school and become a licensed electrician. He was to be deported last year, but was allowed to stay because his mother is ill, and needs his help looking after his five-year-old brother, who is a US citizen.
”They’ve given us hope,” Maldonado said.
‘The Syrian National Council expresses its deep dismay at the kidnapping of a large number of Syrian citizens, who had fled to Lebanon to take refuge from bloody oppression in their country,’ it said in a statement.
Lebanon’s sectarian make-up has Shi’ites mainly supporting Assad’s regime, and Sunnis supporting the insurgents.
Syrian activists in Lebanon called via Facebook on fellow Syrians who fled the bloodshed for what should have been a safer haven to ‘stay home,’ and to ‘avoid areas where violence could break out.’
Syria occupied Lebanon militarily and politically for nearly three decades until 2005, when its troops were forced to pull out under international pressure after the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri that year.
Seven years after Syria withdrew from Lebanon, the country’s political forces remain sharply divided over events in their neighbour.
