'Documented Dreamers' Lose Temporary Dependency Status Once They Turn 21 (Dossier)
Nearly 250,000 children of legal immigrants, including a significant number of Indian-Americans, are now at grave risk of deportation from the US after they turn 21 and become “too old.”
These people, called “documented dreamers,” enter the U.S. with their parents, who are usually on temporary work visas. However, they lose their temporary dependent status once they turn 21 and face deportation.
According to an analysis of US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) data by the National Foundation for American Policy, as of November 2 last year, more than 1.2 million Indians, including their dependents, were waiting for green cards in the first, second and third categories on the basis of employment.
Who are documented dreamers?
Minor children who enter the U.S. under the temporary, nonimmigrant visa category along with their parents remain eligible to obtain permanent resident status through a parent if they do so before they turn 21. However, if they fail to obtain permanent resident status by that age, these children lose their temporary dependent status and are removed from the green card queue — in official terms, they become parents, according to the American Immigration Council.
When they turn 21, children “age out” of the temporary legal status they obtained through their parents' visas and are at risk of deportation unless they can obtain another temporary or permanent status on their own.
For example, the popular H-1B visa, one of the most widely used temporary visa categories, allows minor children of an H-1B individual to enter the U.S. as H-4 dependents. This is a temporary, nonimmigrant visa category that grants them legal status to stay in the country for a limited period of time.
Why are they being deported?
Until they turn 21, these Documented Dreamers remain excluded from the temporary protection from deportation and work authorization granted through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative, which requires recipients to “not have lawful status as of June 15, 2012,” the Council said.
Because these children do not have legal status to remain in the U.S., they must transition to a new temporary status or self-deport once they become undocumented and risk enforcement action.
DACA is a discretionary power of the Attorney General's Office that provides temporary relief from deportation and work authorization to a certain group of undocumented immigrants.
However, it does not grant permanent legal status to individuals and must be renewed every two years. To qualify, applications must meet certain requirements, including the important requirement that the person “did not have legal status as of June 15, 2012.”
In most cases, however, this requirement disqualifies the 'Documented Dreamers', who generally have legal status.
What does the US government say?
On Thursday, the White House blamed Republicans for the legislative impasse.
“I was talking about the bipartisan agreement that came out of the Senate, where we negotiated a process to help the so-called documented Dreamers. And unfortunately, Republicans, and I've said this many times on this stage today, they voted it down twice,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said recently.
Last month, a bipartisan group of 43 lawmakers, led by Senator Alex Padilla, called on the Joe Biden administration to take urgent action to protect these “Documented Dreamers.”
“…due to the long waiting list for Green Card applications, families with approved immigrant applications often have to wait decades for permanent resident status,” they wrote in the June 13 letter.
