A young woman in another state has filed legal claims against United States immigrantion agencies over a denied DACA renewal request. She claims that her petition was denied due to her work as an immigrantion activist, both in her local area and across the country. This is certainly something other individuals in California and elsewhere may have to deal with if they are arrested for their roles as immigrantion activists.
According to a recent report, the now 29-year-old woman, applied for a renewal of her Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status which she was originally granted in 2013. She was brought to the United States as a young child at 6 years old. She graduated high school and college and has since worked to help others like herself achieve immigrantion status changes. This work has involved taking part in immigrantion rallies which resulted in her being arrested a total of four times. None of those arrests resulted in convictions, however.
It is because of these arrests that her DACA renewal application was denied. She believes this is wrong, as the rules for DACA state that convictions must be obtained or that an individual pose a threat to national security or public safety in order for DACA applications to be denied. Her case is rather unique, as the majority of DACA renewal requests are granted.
For those in California who have qualified for DACA but who require renewals that have been denied, it is reasonable to question why their requests were not approved. If one continues to meet all of the listed requirements, it simply seems odd that such a request would be denied. With assistance, it is possible to appeal denied applications, or even take it a step further and file legal complaints against immigrantion agencies, just as this young woman.
Source: Chicago Tribune, “Activist sues immigrantion agencies over denial of deferred deportation renewal“, Jeanne Kuang, May 25, 2016
