| OCR Text |
Show COLLEGE OF SOCIAL & BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE THE COMPLEXITY OF APPLYING TO DEFERRED ACTION FOR CHILDHOOD ARRIVALS (DACA) Sujey Rodriguez (Dolores Delgado Bernal) Department of Ethnic Studies University of Utah This project is designed around personal experiences, current policy, legal understandings, as well as university and media perceptions of the Federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy. Currently undocumented US residents between the ages of 16 and 31 can now gain "legal presence" in the U.S and work authorization for two years under a program called Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) (Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 2012). The objective of this study is to talk about the complexity of applying for DACA. D A C A is not a path for citizenship. However, applicants' knowledge is based on rumors and what they have heard from their peers. Therefore they end up paying for unnecessary lawyers and unnecessary fees. People fail to get educated on how to submit their application because they don't hear of community resources. Therefore I want to find out how DACA is being interpreted and communicated to the general public and undocumented communities. Because applicants believe that DACA offers citizenship, they think that they have the authorization to travel outside the United States. Not only do they believe they can leave the United States legally, they also think they can apply for scholarships that ask for a verification of citizenship. Unfortunately DACA applicants are not eligible to apply to many scholarships. Applicants also may not receive government money through FAFSA or any other Pell grants. There are certain scholarships that are specifically for DACA applicants, but they have to be specifically for those students. I think that it is important that we clarify these statements to the Undocumented community, high school college advisors, scholarship advisors, and counselors because most of them are not familiar with the DACA process, or criteria. This is also a concern that I have that I would like to focus on through m y research because how can the students gain the right information, if their source themselves don't know it. M y research studies what kinds of support schools are giving D A C A students, and what kind of resources they have. Dolores Delgado Bernal |
