What Trump Means For DAPA
Well, the sky seemed like it fell on us last Tuesday when Donald Trump was elected president. This is bad news for all the immigrants that were hoping for DAPA to be passed by President Hillary. Now it seems like there will not be any immigration reform for at least 4 more years. The DAPA proposed by President Obama will not go forward because there’s not enough time to resolve it in the court system.
Current Immigration Programs
So, let’s talk about the current programs. The most popular immigration program passed by President Obama was the DACA program. More than 700,000 people got work permits through this program nationwide. I think this program might be terminated by Trump. His website from before the election said he is going to terminate the DACA program. It was proved that he lied about 70% of the time during the campaign, so terminating DACA might have been one of those things that he was lying about. I don’t think anyone, maybe even Trump himself, really knows yet what’s going to happen to the DACA program yet. Anyone with pending renewals or pending first time applications, I just hope that you receive your approvals before inauguration day on January 20, 2017.
Here are some options that Trump has with regard to the DACA program:
- Let the program continue like it is.
- Terminate the program immediately and announce that everyone’s work permits are immediately canceled. He might even require people to send their work permits back into the USCIS.
- Allow people who currently have DACA to continue renewing their permits, but now allow any new applications.
- Announce that the program is over, but current work permits will continue to be valid until their expiration date.
Trump will almost certainly do one of the 4 things listed above, but we don’t know which one, and I’m hoping that he announces something by Christmas. I’ll post any updates on his intentions here on my website, so check back frequently for updates.
Current Residents
As far as anyone who is already a permanent resident, or who is applying for permanent residence or naturalization, there will be no changes to your applications and your lives will be the same after Trump takes office. Trump can’t change the process for permanent residence or naturalization.
Everyone make sure you’re registered to vote for 2018 and 2020!