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(AP) WASHINGTON — Less than two months before a presidential election in which both parties are fighting for the key Hispanic vote, the Obama administration has approved the first wave of applications from young illegal immigrants hoping to avoid deportation and get a work permit. The Homeland Security Department is notifying a small group of people this week that they have been approved to stay in the country for two years as part of President Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The first approvals come just three weeks after U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services started accepting applications for the program Mr. Obama and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano first announced June 15. In an internal document obtained by The Associated Press, the government had estimated previously that it could take months for each application to be reviewed and approved. So far, about 72,000 people have applied to avoid deportation. "Following a thorough, individualized case review, USCIS has now begun notifying individuals of the determination on their deferral requests," DHS spokesman Peter Boogaard said in a statement Tuesday. DHS said background checks, including fingerprinting, are being conducted on each immigrant before an application can be approved. The average wait time for approval is expected to be about four months to six months. Most applications for immigration benefits take several months for USCIS to process. In certain circumstances, people can pay extra fees to speed up the process. There currently is no such option for deferred action applications. To be eligible for deferred deportation, applicants must have come to the U.S. before they turned 16, be 30 or younger, be high school graduates or in college, or have served in the military. The immigrants could not have a serious criminal record. Successful applicants can avoid deportation for up to two years and get a work permit. Applicants must pay a $465 paperwork fee that is expected to cover the cost of processing the work permit and fingerprint collection. Homeland Security has estimated that as many as 1.04 million immigrants could apply to avoid being deported in the program's first year, with about 890,000 being immediately eligible. According to the department document, it could cost between $467 million and $585 million to process applications in the first two years of the program, with revenues from fees estimated at $484 million. That means the cost to the government could range from a gain of $17 million to a loss of more than $101 million. The policy change came just months before what is shaping up to be a tight presidential election. Wooing Hispanic voters has been considered key to helping Mr. Obama win a second term. The plan to halt deportations for as many as 1.7 million illegal immigrants closely mirrors the failed DREAM Act, a bill that would have provided a path to legalization for many of the same immigrants expected to benefit from the government's deferred action policy. The new policy does not provide legal status for the immigrants. Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has not said what he would do with the Obama policy if he is elected. He has previously pledged to veto the DREAM Act should it cross his desk. DREAM stands for Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors. Republicans have uniformly criticized Mr. Obama's policy, as well as previous DHS decisions to stop deporting many illegal immigrants who do not have criminal records or otherwise pose no threat to national security or public safety. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has derided the policy as "backdoor amnesty." "It's astounding that the president's administration can move so quickly to grant work authorization to illegal immigrants yet his jobs council hasn't met in over eight months to find solutions to put unemployed Americans back to work," Smith said Tuesday. "Such a quick turnaround for these amnesty applications raises serious concerns about fraud and a lack of thorough background checks. President Obama and his administration continue to put illegal immigrants ahead of the interests of the American people." Last month, a group of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents sued the department in federal court in Dallas, accusing the administration of violating federal law and forcing ICE employees to break the law by not arresting certain illegal immigrants. Napolitano and ICE Director John Morton were named as defendants. An informal adviser to Romney on immigration, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, filed the suit on behalf of the agents. "It places ICE agents in an untenable position where their political superiors are ordering them to violate federal law," Kobach said at the time. "If they follow federal law, they will be disciplined by their superiors." On Tuesday, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., sent a letter to Morton questioning the new policy and how it is being implemented. He cited reports of immigration officers being threatened with punishment for trying to enforce immigration laws, an allegation outlined in Kobach's suit. "The speed at which the deferrals are being granted continues to raise severe concerns about fraud and the administration's ability to verify items like age of entry, educational status and even current age," Sessions said. "But the bigger issue is that the administration has effectively nullified existing federal law with the stroke of a pen. Moreover, it is a pure fiction that its non-enforcement policy is limited to those theoretically eligible for DREAM." Source: http://m.cbsnews.com...&videofeed=null

Leaders from several Arizona immigrant-rights groups bought a strawberry-topped chocolate cake this week to celebrate the three-year anniversary of President Obama

In November 2014, millions of Americans and their families watched and rejoiced together as President Barack Obama announced a series of immigration directives to strengthen border security, focus immigration enforcement on serious threats, and temporarily defer the deportations of 5 million eligible undocumented immigrants. Specifically, the directives included two programs: the expansion of the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program

Mixed-Status Families To Receive 2nd Round Stimulus Checks The National Law ReviewView the full article

This thread is for you guys/girls to disuss processing times for applications routed to California... Talk about when you subitted your application, any problems your facing. When people look at this thread it should give people some more insight on what to expect and long it should take on average.

This thread is for you guys/girls to disuss processing times for applications routed to Texas... Talk about when you subitted your application, any problems your facing. When people look at this thread it should give people some more insight on what to expect and long it should take on average.

This thread is for you guys/girls to disuss processing times for applications routed to Nebraska... Talk about when you subitted your application, any problems your facing. When people look at this thread it should give people some more insight on what to expect and long it should take on average.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hTFMD5NX1Q Anyone see this game? Utter bullshit in my opinion. They won't overturn the game to a win for the packers. Who disagrees with me?

I mean who doesn't like CASH right? lol So if you guys want to do a competition about something and actually win some cash, we can have a contest, wether it be a post, a comment, or a game competition. Put some ideas together.

Pretty interested read. Read and comment below on what you think! AUSTIN -- President Obama's decision last month to grant deferred action to thousands of immigrants eligible for deportation is either illegal or humane, according to dueling statements released Thursday by members of Texas' congressional delegation. On June 15, the administration announced it would instruct the Department of Homeland Security to begin issuing work permits and grant relief from deportation to certain immigrants brought to the country illegally before they were 16 years old. U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, who has labeled a host of immigration polices aimed at focusing on deporting serious criminals over other offenders "backdoor amnesty," told Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano that the deferred action decision ignores "the rule of law." "The administration's amnesty agenda is a win for illegal immigrants but a loss for Americans," Smith told Napolitano on Thursday during a scheduled House DHS oversight committee hearing. "When illegal immigrants are allowed to live and work in the U.S., unemployed American workers have to compete with illegal immigrants for scarce jobs. With 23 million Americans unemployed or underemployed, this amnesty only makes their lives harder." Smith, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, added that the move is a magnet for fraud. "Many illegal immigrants will falsely claim they came to the U.S. as children, and this administration refuses to take the steps necessary to check whether their claims are true or not," he said. House Democrats, however, said they would rally around the president and defend him against attempts to stymie the administration's powers. "We agree that you are on solid moral and legal ground, and we will do everything within our power to defend your actions and the authority that you, like past Presidents, can exercise to set enforcement priorities and better protect our neighborhoods and our nation," wrote U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill. The letter was also signed by U.S. Reps. Charlie Gonzalez, D-San Antonio, the chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus; Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo; Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston; Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin; Al Green, D-Houston; Gene Green, D-Houston; Ruben Hinojosa, D-Edinburg; and Silvestre Reyes, D-El Paso. But Democrats also made it clear that they want more. "Despite this vital reprieve for a deserving group of promising individuals, we also understand that it does not diminish the need for a permanent solution and comprehensive immigration reform," the Democrats insisted. "Mr. President, we stand committed to fixing the broken immigration system once and for all, and we are ready to fight for a permanent solution that benefits all children and families, the economy, our national security and our nation." About 800,000 people would be eligible to apply for the work permits, according to Gutierrez's office. They are scheduled to be eligible starting next month. Source: http://myhighplains.com/fulltext?nxd_id=285332

DACA applicants being approved Yahoo NewsView the full article

President Barack Obama said Thursday in an exclusive interview with Agencia Efe, Spain's international news agency, that he had not promised to complete his entire 2008 campaign agenda, including immigration reform, during his first term but rather had said that he would begin working on it. When asked if he regretted not having been able to deliver on immigration reform, the president responded: "No, because what a president does, or what a candidate for president does is you lay out an agenda of where you want to take your country, a vision for how we would strengthen the country and, in my case, my vision has always been how do we create a strong middle class, ladders of opportunity into the middle class." "And the agenda that I put forward," he said, "is one that is designed to make sure that anybody who works hard in this country can make it." Success can be achieved by people in the United States "regardless of race, religion, background," and they can "have access to a good education, ... they can get the skills they need, ... they can find a job that pays the bills, they can own a home, send their kids to college," he said. During the interview, which the president granted after holding a campaign rally in Golden, Colorado, he also said that "if you look at the promises that I made back in 2008, we have achieved many of them." "(We) ended the war in Iraq, saved an auto industry on the brink of extinction, passed comprehensive health care reform which will provide millions ... more people (with) access to health insurance, including nine million Latinos who work so hard and have difficulty getting health insurance on the job, reforming our student loans program so that millions ... more young people are able to get the support that they need." He acknowledged that "there are some things, like comprehensive immigration reform, that we have not got done yet. But in 2008 I didn't promise that I would have everything completed by the end of the first term. I said that we would begin work on all these things." The president also expressed confidence that the agenda that he has presented recently, with the aim of being reelected in November, includes objectives "that we can accomplish." In 2008 then Senator Obama said he would make immigration reform a "top priority" of his first term as President promising to do it his first year of his first term. "We can't wait 20 years from now to do it, we can't 10 years from now to do it, we need to do it by the end of my first term as president of the United States of America," Obama said in 2008. Obama made a similar promise to try for immigration reform in the first year of his second term in an interview with Univision. Obama blamed Republicans for the lack of progress on reform legislation in his first term and pledged he would “try” to bring up the issue in the first year of a second term. Among those realizable goals, Mr. Obama said, are: "bringing ... manufacturing jobs back home, making college more affordable, continu(ing) to reform our schools, rehiring teachers so that we don't have overcrowded classrooms, continuing to develop clean energy that reduces our dependence on foreign oil, ending the war in Afghanistan, these are all things that we can accomplish." "It's in stark contrast to the agenda that's being presented by the other side," the president said, alluding to the campaign platform of his Republican rival, Mitt Romney. Read more: http://latino.foxnew.../#ixzz26Tera922

Will Non-U.S. Citizens Get A Stimulus Check? ForbesView the full article

This is the official thread for getting approved.. If you took your biometrics and are about to recieve your EAD and the ability to get a SSN.... LET US KNOW!!! We want to know how everyone is doing so inform us of your status!

Crosscut Dream Act goes to Gov. Inslee's desk to be signed into law Kirkland Reporter The Dream Act is a piece of federal legislation that would legalize the status of several million undocumented youth immigrants. Washington joins three other states – California, New Mexico and Texas – in enacting a version of the Dream Act and ... State DREAM Act passes House, heads for governor's deskSeattle Post Intelligencer (blog) Legislature passes 'Dream Act' to expand student financial aid to children of ...Q13 FOX State Legislature approves DREAM Act for immigrants' childrenCrosscut Dailyuw all 13 news articles » View the full article

They point out some pretty good things in this article. It's worth a read or just a skim through. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano assured lawmakers Thursday that deferred action for some qualified young illegal aliens would help the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) focus its limited resources on criminal threats. Moreover, DHS would implement the process of deferring immigration enforcement among some illegal aliens aged 30 or younger carefully to ensure that it is not subject to fraud and that it does not result in sanctuary for criminal aliens, Napolitano told a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee. Although the hearing marked the 40th time Napolitano has testified before Congress in her tenure as homeland security secretary, it marked her first appearance since her memorandum June 15 granting deferred action for a two-year period to young illegal aliens who committed no felonies or major misdemeanors and applied for the program. The two-year period is continually renewable so long as the immigrant does not commit any such crimes, Napolitano said. DHS officially will begin accepting applications from young illegal aliens seeking to defer removal or other enforcement actions on Aug. 15, Napolitano explained. The department hopes to finalize guidelines for the process by Aug. 1, she continued, although she acknowledged that DHS already has deferred action on about 1,000 young illegal aliens that qualify under the characteristics of the overall program. Napolitano described the deferred action for qualified young illegal aliens as a natural outgrowth of how DHS has set immigration enforcement priorities. In 2010, DHS set broad priorities to pursue criminal aliens and repeat migration offenders. In 2011, it clarified that immigration prosecutors and agents could exercise prosecutorial discretion to suspend administratively low priority enforcement cases against illegal aliens who posed no national security or public safety threat. The June 15 announcement specifically narrowed DHS focus further by providing relief for young illegal aliens who were brought to the United States by their parents under the age of 16 and who have lived in the country continuously for five years or more. These young aliens generally do not know their native countries and fit the profile of students who would be provided with permanent relief under the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act championed by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) Napolitano denied DHS was pressured into the decision by the White House and further objected to characterizations that the timing of deferred action was political in nature, given the upcoming presidential election and the Democratic Party's efforts to appeal to Latino voters. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), committee chairman, expressed skepticism that DHS would not issue further orders that would effectively provide a class of DREAMers with permanent residency and eventually citizenship, usurping the authority of Congress to pass or withhold such laws. DHS may plan to enact an advance parole program, whereby a class of people such as DREAMers under deferred action would essentially become permanent US residents, Smith said. Providing such relief to an entire class of people eventually would provide them with citizenship counter to the will of Congress. Napolitano assured him that DHS would not enact a blanket policy to do so, but that individual cases of qualified illegal aliens may be subject to advance parole. DHS still was in the throes of hammering out the exact process by which young illegal aliens would qualify for deferred action, Napolitano said, expressing doubt that they would have to submit a certified school transcript, despite Smith's insistence that it would be a good idea. Qualifying illegal aliens would have to prove their residency, and the guidelines stipulate they should be in enrolled in, or should have graduated from, high school. (Alternatively, they could serve honorably in the US military.) Read More: http://www.hstoday.us/briefings/today-s-news-analysis/single-article/napolitano-defends-deferred-action-on-immigration-enforcement-for-qualified-young-illegal-aliens/ecd08de19c0e8360128f77571f797e80.html

DHS has approved 171 new DACA applications since November: report New York Post View the full article

Gov. Cuomo For First Time Says He'd Sign NYS DREAM Act Bill If Passed By ... New York Daily News (blog) Gov. Cuomo for the first time says he would sign a bill if it passes the Legislature to allow state financial aid programs to cover college tuition costs for kids of illegal immigrants. Cuomo made the little-noticed comment on the DREAM Act at a recent ... View the full article

New York Daily News LOVETT: Cuomo says would sign NY DREAM Act if it passes New York Daily News ALBANY – New York Gov. Cuomo for the first time says he would sign a bill if it passes the Legislature to allow state financial aid programs to cover college tuition costs for kids of illegal immigrants. Cuomo made the little-noticed comment on the ... and more » View the full article

NBC New York Proposed New York Dream Act Receives Unexpected Support NBC New York Supporters of the New York DREAM Act hold photos of undocumented students who are not eligible for college tuition assistance during a rally. advertisement. Supporters of a bill that would give New York students in the U.S. illegally access to state ... Tuition aid for students in NY illegally gets bumpGlens Falls Post-Star all 3 news articles » View the full article

Crosscut Dream Act a reality in Washington state Bellevue Reporter The Dream Act is a piece of federal legislation that would legalize the status of several million undocumented youth immigrants. Washington joins three other states – California, New Mexico and Texas – in enacting a version of the Dream Act and ... State DREAM Act passes House, heads for governor's deskSeattle Post Intelligencer (blog) Legislature passes 'Dream Act' to expand student financial aid to children of ...Q13 FOX State Legislature approves DREAM Act for immigrants' childrenCrosscut Dailyuw all 27 news articles » View the full article

Local advocates applaud state 'Dream Act' The Wenatchee World Online Local advocates applaud state 'Dream Act'. by Christine Pratt. Feb. 20, 2014, 8:50 a.m.. Comment. Send to Kindle. Print This. WENATCHEE — Gov. Jay Inslee appears poised to sign into a law a key piece of bipartisan legislation that will put college ... and more » View the full article

Crosscut State Legislature approves DREAM Act for immigrants' children Crosscut The DREAM Act. The Real Hope Act. By any name, it's a winner with the state Legislature. The Washington House passed a Senate version of the bill 75-22 Tuesday to send it to Gov Jay Inslee for his signature. The bill makes Washington high school ... and more » View the full article

Dream Act heads to Governor's office Dailyuw House Democrats called it the Dream Act. Senate Republicans called it the Real Hope Act. Whatever name you know it by, one thing is clear: It's about to be called law. Senate Bill 6523, which will expand college financial aid to Washington students ... View the full article

Crosscut Legislature passes 'Dream Act' to expand student financial aid to children of ... Q13 FOX “The Dream Act represents a new future for many aspiring Washington students,” Inslee said in a written statement. “While we've opened the doors of our colleges and universities to students from all walks of life, too many still face an insurmountable ... State DREAM Act passes House, heads for governor's deskSeattle Post Intelligencer (blog) BFD: State Legislature approves DREAM Act for immigrants' childrenCrosscut Morning update: Session Day 37TheNewsTribune.com all 5 news articles » View the full article