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SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) -- Nathaly Uribe has all the papers she needs to get a work permit - something the 17-year-old daughter of a construction worker only dreamed of growing up as an illegal immigrant in the United States.
The high school senior said she hopes a federal program beginning Wednesday that defers deportation for illegal immigrants will make it easier to get a decent job and help pay for college.
"This is my country. It's where my roots are," said Uribe, who moved from Chile when she was a toddler and lives in Glen Burnie, Md. "It feels great to know that the country that I call home is finally accepting me."
Thousands of young illegal immigrants lined up Wednesday hoping for the right to work legally in America without being deported. The Obama administration's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals could expand the rights of more than 1 million young illegal immigrants by giving them work permits, though they would not obtain legal residency here or a path to citizenship.
At least 13,000 people stood in line in Chicago, clutching reams of paperwork, for a workshop led by immigrant rights advocates at the city's Navy Pier. Hundreds of potential applicants waited outside nonprofit offices in Los Angeles for help filing paperwork to open the door to the staples of success in America - a work permit, and then later a Social Security number and driver's license.
"It's something I have been waiting for since I was two years old," said Bupendra Ram, a 25-year-old communications graduate student in Fullerton, Calif., who still needs supporting documents from his Fiji Islands home before he can apply. "This offers us an opportunity to fulfill the dreams I've had since I was a child."
Less than three months before an expected tight presidential election, the new immigration program is mired in controversy. Republican critics accuse President Barack Obama of drafting the plan to boost his political standing with Latinos ahead of November's vote and say the program favors illegal immigrants over unemployed American citizens during dismal economic times.
In Arizona, which passed one of the nation's toughest anti-immigration laws, Gov. Jan Brewer signed an executive order Wednesday directing state agencies to deny driver's licenses and other public benefits to illegal immigrants who obtain work authorizations under the program. Brewer said the federal program doesn't give immigrants legal status and she's following the intent of the current state law denying public benefits to them.
To be eligible for the federal program, immigrants must prove they arrived in the United States before they turned 16, are 30 or younger, have been living in the country at least five years and are in school or graduated or served in the military. They cannot have been convicted of certain crimes or otherwise pose a safety threat.
Initial concerns that federal authorities might take a tough approach on applications or that a Republican presidential victory could unravel applicants' gains have largely been pushed aside by massive interest from thousands of young people eager to work.
In Los Angeles, one immigrant rights' group started hosting hourly information sessions over the last month to keep up with the frenzy. The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles has handed out 12,000 information packets about the program and is encouraging all eligible immigrants to apply as long as they have stayed out of legal trouble, said Angelica Salas, the organization's director.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney does not support so-called Dream Act legislation for illegal immigrants who attend college - a key group that Obama aims to reach with this program. The former Massachusetts governor has also criticized the deferred action program but has not said it he would reverse it, pledging instead an unspecified "civil but resolute" long-term fix to illegal immigration.
So far, the measure has won favor for Obama along Latinos - many who view immigration as a litmus test when choosing a political candidate, said Manuel Pastor, director of the University of Southern California's Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration.
"What this has done is to signal that the president, who was unable to get comprehensive immigration reform, does at least care about the situation of these immigrants," Pastor said. "This is something that has been overwhelmingly popular in the immigrant population and in the Latino population in general."
Some Republican lawmakers have accused Obama of sidestepping Congress and creating a backdoor amnesty program.
"It's a betrayal of American young people," said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican. "We're supposed to be representing the interests of the American people - not people who come here illegally from other countries."
In an internal document outlining the program's implementation, Department of Homeland Security officials estimated more than 1 million people would apply in the first year and about 890,000 would be eligible.
On Wednesday, immigrants lined up for help filing applications at workshops around the country. Others sought identity documents from consulates to be able to apply.
Jaqueline Cinto said she's still working on gathering the documents she needs, knowing it's her only shot at putting her master's degree in education to good use. But she's nervous that filing the papers might put her relatives at risk for deportation - even though Homeland Security officials have said they will generally not use applicants' information to track down other family.
"I am even more afraid that I might be denied," said Cinto, 26, who came to New York more than a decade ago from Mexico.
In central California, one group has been warning farmworkers and their children not to sign up for the program at all.
"Immigration agents could haul them off that same day," said Manuel Cunha, president of the Nisei Farmers League. "Even if they don't, if this policy is disbanded, now ICE has the addresses of all the families. Why would you want to squeal on your parents?"
The documents to prove identity could include passports, birth certificates, school transcripts, medical, financial and military records. Multiple sworn affidavits, signed under penalty of perjury, can also be used, Homeland Security officials said. Anyone found to have committed fraud will be referred to federal immigration agents, the department said.
Laura Lichter, a Denver attorney who heads the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said everyone takes a risk by applying.
"I would say that people are between a rock and a hard place. In most cases, people can take (the government) at their word that their intent is to administer this policy in a fair and appropriate manner but there are going to be people that are going to find themselves having problems," she said
A decision on each application could take several months, and immigrants have been warned not to leave the country while their application is pending. If they are allowed to stay in the United States and want to travel internationally, they will need to apply for permission to come back into the country, a request that would cost another $360.
The lines on Wednesday grew throughout the day; the crowd in Chicago was so large that workshop organizers told them to come back another day.
"Navy Pier is today's Ellis Island, and while they saw New York City, today they see Chicago," said Illinois congressman Luis Gutierrez. "But the most important thing is they see America."
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Contributing to this report were Andres Gonzalez and Alicia A. Caldwell in Washington, Elliot Spagat in San Diego, Gosia Wozniacka in Fresno, Calif., Sitthixay Ditthavong and Sophia Tareen in Chicago and Paul Davenport in Phoenix.
August 16, 2012 @ 9:54 am
We are not far from the day when a smart immigration lawyer files suit on behalf of an arrested undocumented worker because he is not being treated equally under the law. Obama’s EO is circumventing actual law and we have a principle of being treated equally under law.
August 16, 2012 @ 9:56 am
“Hey it looks like someone would grant me amnesty?” This was heard just outside the White House. Could it have been the President silently wishing the folks all over the nation would forget he is a foreigner and grant him amnesty?
The saga continues. Next week Biden will attack Romney for being a ….foreigner and a slave monger. Obama will snicker and cheer….or so I hear?
August 16, 2012 @ 10:02 am
Just in from the News Corps: White House is tired of seeing commercial of Democratic mascot braying into a microphone, “It he fault, he fault, he fault!”
That is demeaning to the President, and is very undignified, and it should be taken off the air immediately, so we can put our fat elephant commercial on.
August 16, 2012 @ 10:10 am
Now the democratic machine can place a warm body with all the deceased and animal names they have registered to vote.
August 16, 2012 @ 10:29 am
This is just the door opening to total amnesty. Little by little it will happen until all the illegals are taken care of by the hard working citizens of this country. No guts to initiate Operation Wet Back like Truman and Eisenhower did. Add more people to the list that owe the government and will vote for the socialists.
August 16, 2012 @ 10:40 am
Looking at the waves and waves of illegals que up, well my own participation in being a citizen of Texas is as diminished as our currency when printing more paper money. At some tipping point, it is all meaningless.
That these aliens are here in the first place, means that there is a complicit criminal failure, to securing The Border. Those who have allowed this, should be fired, arrested, and tried… .
NOT mentioned, or seldom, Laura Ingram bravely did when hosting O’Reilly, are the crimes committed on Americans by illegals every single day. “Our” Government should be held accountable for each and every crime, held accountable to each victim and their families.
When two Border Agents are murdered, and those who unleashed the guns with Government blessings, cannot be brought to be held accountable, I won’t hold my breath… .
Republicans should be acutely aware, that allowing endless swarms of aliens into “our” so called country, will demographically terminate in the future, winning any Presidential election. But it gets worse than this.
I know that the Melting Pot People are getting their pots out for me, but all one has to do, is look at areas flooded by vast numbers alien people and see that assimilation is NOT happening, rather, areas, cities, regions are actually separating, while still demanding handouts, resources… . The BORG we are not.
The recent Olympic Medalist that had an American flag, but also displayed a Mexican flag and said that he ran for both countries… is supposed to be an example. Really? I guess this kind of —- flies smartly in a dying country. For Dad, of “The Greatest Generation” who risked his life in WW2, this would NEVER be accepted during WW2, all of or any of this.
August 16, 2012 @ 12:10 pm
Thank you for your comment. I think you make some very good points. Before these fools in Washington are allowed to take office they must first make an oath to unhold the Constitution of the United States of America; remember that document? Some even place their hand on a Bible, and swear or affirm to do so. Our Constitution is very clear; they must protect our borders. As they have not done so there are grounds to impeach the entire lot.
August 16, 2012 @ 1:51 pm
Thank you Mister Wilson.
When I studied law, (NOT a lawyer), it quickly occurred to me that a great deal of lying goes on in oaths taken in the matrix of legal proceedings. Marcus Tullius Cicero 68 BC, once complained that he had done his legal presentation perfectly for his client, but the Judge ignored the law… . His teacher scolded him, for not learning. He pointed out that the powerful, could do what they wanted… within the parameters that they can control.
It almost seems like a perfunctory right of passage, to take the oath, and then move on… and do what you want to do. The Founders feared this. The Constitution, The Bill of Rights, The Declaration are clear constraints on power and the later, the guide work for separation! Obama has even openly complained about this check on power!
Impeach, remove, or review again what The Founders did in 1776.
August 16, 2012 @ 11:25 am
Are Congress and the Supreme Court now irrelevant?
Our Constitutional Republic is supposed to have three separate branches, but we have gradually allowed the Executive Branch to assume the powers that the English Civil War of the 1640s stripped from King Charles I. How has this been accomplished? Simple! A Senate leader who uses his inbasket as a way to keep budget bills passed by the House from being considered by the entire Senate or even by one of the Senate Committees, an Attorney General who won’t enforce the nation’s laws and a president who has assumed absolute and regal power.
And the propaganda coming out of Washington is both misleading as to cost and effect. For example, Obamacare has nationalized the entire US healthcare industry and gathered power into Washington where the bureaucracy will reign supreme. Our neighbor Canada’s healthcare is similar to the healthcare in Massachusetts that Obama tries to compare with his healthcare bill. It isn’t similar. BC, Alberta and the other provinces all have their own approach and at least in BC doctors can opt out of the government-run plan if they don’t like the paperwork or the patients. Democrats calling Obamacare similar to Romneycare are lying. Obamacare isn’t like any other nation’s healthcare plan because it provides healthcare to everyone who comes into this country and wants to be cared for by American medicine. You’ve just seen Obama bypass our immigration laws and he will use his AG to enforce his power grab.
August 16, 2012 @ 11:29 am
But accept that all young is a big mistake,later became a profesional and will defend illegals.What real i don’t get is what doing a GOP for stop a mad guy in a White House?where are a justice?where are a Laws?That are a time where send a warrand for arrest to Nobama,no mere what liberals said,and show we will not tolerate Dems and liberals.
August 16, 2012 @ 11:45 am
In Arizona, which passed one of the nation’s toughest anti-immigration laws, Gov. Jan Brewer signed an executive order Wednesday directing state agencies to deny driver’s licenses and other public benefits to illegal immigrants who obtain work authorizations under the program. Brewer said the federal program doesn’t give immigrants legal status and she’s following the intent of the current state law denying public benefits to them.
I say good for you Jan! This woman has more balls than the metrosexual in the WH! As a buisness owner I will refuse to hire anyone of these so called “Dreamers.” After all they are still considered illegal aliens and unlike the Metrosexual in Chief I will follow the law which clearly states it is illegal to aide and abet a person in this country illegally. I hope my fellow Americans do they same and not hire any of them!
August 16, 2012 @ 12:16 pm
Like your monicker, lizzietookanaxe!
Jan Brewer continues to stand up and stand taller. I wish our own Gov. here in Texas could grow, ah, you know whats.
And hooray for you NOT hiring “Dreamers”! There are many, far too too many in business that talk the talk, and that is it! I had a business partner (from Hell) in building a huge house in Colorado, who would extol so many brash words that Genghis Khan might blush. I left the site for a month, returning to a little army of illegals clamoring helter skelter all over the house! After my “stroke” the partner explained, just how friggen cheap he was.
In all, the whole project imploded, even though the house was built, without said partner getting 40 whacks… . I learned some lessons about people, costly at that.
August 16, 2012 @ 12:52 pm
Interesting point about the workers still not having legal status. Will they be issued a temporary work visa? I think the government should use the information to deport the parents. The parents didn’t grow up here, so they shouldn’t be covered. They can sacrifice for their kids by leaving the country. If they want to become US citizens, they can go back to their home country and get at the back of the line behind all the people who are following the rules.
August 16, 2012 @ 1:36 pm
Hi txgoatlady.
I think that it is an incremental step in that direction. Cook the “lobster” s l o w l y. The Communists–Socialists long ago took a serious look at how things did not fall into place quickly and reset their plans to dismantle bit by bit, the system.
So sure. Work visas… then…
And the Communists have actively set about to repopulate The Republic. Can’t have the likes of you, or me spoiling that tasty yummers RED omelet! That is why, at some time down the road, should Obama’s pals obtain total power, we get to spend some “quality” time in a lovely reeducation camp, or a ditch.
August 16, 2012 @ 12:28 pm
Dumb question. Will these illegal immigrants have to buy insurance under Obamacare? Pelosi called citizens without insurance “Free-riders” What do you call these non-citizens, “Freeloaders”?
August 16, 2012 @ 2:08 pm
Thanks for the compliment lwesson. When it comes to illegal aliens I am Lizzie Borden on steriods! If I happen upon a construction site and spot any OTA’s (other than Americans) I will approach the foreman and ask him out right if all his workers are documented! They never seem to take kindly to my inquiry and they seem to get upset when I take out my trusty Iphone and start taking video. Gee, I wonder why? I mean those workers are just doing the jobs Americans won’t, right?
August 16, 2012 @ 3:15 pm
You are fantastic!
You have me day dreaming of my sociopathic bad business partner, being arrested (builder, designer, coordinator).
A house went up nearby. I could have worked on it, but NO! It disgusted me for months. My cop brother in law, said that there was NOTHING that he could do, that the city would do.
Yet I axe you, who do we call? There is no “Ghost Busters” for illegals so it seems, thank you Uncle Sam. I see them on street corners, businesses, freely assembled without nary a care, not worried, just happy. Ahhh. Houston is a sanctuary drama palace for illegals. Now, if my auto Safety Inspection expires… bam, a ticket for this horrid miscreant!
Think I will jump in the car and go speed some on our delightful Death Race Freeways.
August 16, 2012 @ 3:33 pm
So are you my friend! I loved the “yet I axe you” comment…perfect
You are right, we have no one to call, however, I (we) can make things as uncomfortable as possible for the illegal invaders, and trust me, I do it every chance I get. In a restaurant or a hotel I will come right out and ask if all their staff is documented, if not, out the door I go. The looks alone on their faces is comic relief! A friend of mine has taken to actually writing “No Amnesty Deport All Illegals” on all his paper money, priceless!
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August 16, 2012 @ 4:36 pm
These millions of Dream Act winners will now be able to compete for American jobs which will add more numbers to the unemployment figures.
August 16, 2012 @ 9:31 pm
I guarantee you that as these people are processed, they will get voter registrations. It’s all about the vote count. We need poll volunteers to truethevote.com
August 16, 2012 @ 10:02 pm
But for the legals getting a photo ID is near impossible? Dang I’ll never trust ‘space aliens’ again.
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