The Homeland Security Department said the first small group of applications out of the more than 72,000 it has received so far has been approved for a new, temporary immigration program and those immigrants are being notified this week about the decision.
President Barack Obama and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced on June 15 that young undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. before they turned 16, are 30 or younger, are high school graduates or are in college or have served in the military would be eligible to apply to avoid deportation for up to two years and get a work permit. The immigrants also could not have a serious criminal record, according to a recent NBCLatino article.
The first batch of approvals came months earlier than expected. DHS said background checks including finger print checks are done conducted on each immigrant before an application can be approved.
Applicants for deferred deportation pay a $465 fee that covers the cost of processing the work permit and for fingerprinting. DHS said about 1.04 million immigrants could apply to avoid being deported in the program’s first year, with 890,000 eligible immediately.
