DREAMers Deal With Roadblocks On Way To Deferred Action

By Victor Landa, NewsTaco

Five days into the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and applicants are finding that there are higher hurdles to clear than there are bureaucratic hoops to jump through. The government process is as simple as government processes can be – everyone expected that the paperwork and lines and interviews were going to be a muddle. But what’s caught many DREAMers unprepared have been the intentional roadblocks.

For example, in order to qualify for deferred action, applicants must be enrolled in high school, earned a high school diploma or a high school equivalency certificate (GED).  But (and to no one’s surprise) in Arizona, according to a report in New American Media,

a state law – Proposition 300 — approved by voters in 2006, bars state-funded schools from offering free GED classes to undocumented immigrants, making the path to DACA eligibility difficult for those who may have aged out of the high school system but still wish to become eligible for the new federal program.

This doesn’t mean that people otherwise eligible for deferred action can’t get a GED, it just means they can’t do it at a public institution. But the law has caused confusion, and immigration advocates in Arizona have been flooded with calls and questions.

Non-profits like Chicanos Por La Causa (CPLC) offer free classes through the Workforce Development Center in West Phoenix twice a week, and do not require the presentation of legal documents.

At least 75 percent of the calls the workforce center is currently receiving come from students trying to find out how they can take the GED classes. Demand for the classes, said those at the center, has already outweighed capacity.

An estimated 80 thousand persons in Arizona could benefit from the deferred action program; it’s not known ow many of them would require high school equivalency. In the end, though, the responsibility lies with the applicant to be informed as to the process and resources available. Immigration advocates are assuming the responsibility of making the information available.