a student newspaper of the university of tulsa
january 20, 2015 issue 13 ~ volume 100
Up to 39,000 undocumented immigrants in Oklahoma could benefit from President Obama’s latest immigration executive order. Two years ago, the Obama administration implemented Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, permitting certain undcoumented immigratns to apply for legal status. Over 3,800 Oklahoma residents have already applied. DACA recipients are eligible for work permits and driver licenses, giving them freer access to commerce and public services. News Editor Nikki Hager reports. In a high school auditorium off of 11th and Highway 169 in East Tulsa, several dozen people listened intently as an attorney, speaking through a Spanish translator, outlined the U.S. immigration system. Once the speaker reached the subject of President Obama’s most recent immigration executive action, hands shot up across the room. The community had a lot of questions about the coming changes. In November 2014, President Obama announced his Immigration Accountability Executive Action, altering the enforcement of current immigration law and granting federal legal status to millions of undocumented immigrants. “Deferred action changes someone’s federal status. Those people are no longer ‘in line’ for deportation,” according to Oklahoma Policy Institute policy analyst Kate Richey. “The federal authorities reserve the right to deport them at anytime, but they will not initiate deportation proceedings while deferred action is in effect.” Deferred action recipients are granted three-year work permits and, in most states, including Oklahoma, can now obtain driver’s licenses.
President Obama had already granted deferred action to those who did not have legal status that came into the country as children in an executive action known as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in 2012. In his most recent immigration executive action, he granted deferred action to the parents and nuclear families of U.S. citizens and green card holders, in a program that is being referred to as the Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA). Life after DACA While those newly eligible for deferred action cannot apply for work permits until May, DACA has been in effect for over two years. Tulsan and immigrant advocate Ivan Godinez came from Veracruz, Mexico with his mother when he was 14, to join his father who had initially migrated so that he could earn money to send Ivan to college. “Before (DACA) I worked in fast food and restaurants, the only places I could work outside of construction,” said Godinez. “After I received DACA, I was able to apply anywhere. I remember having a job
interview everyday for a whole week. I applied to work at places I didn’t ever intend to work for just because I could apply.” According to the Immigration Policy Center, Godinez is like the 61 percent of DACA recipients who obtained a new job as a result of their new documented status. “First I got a job at Natural Grocers, until I applied for my current job at the Community Action Project as a translator. For the first time I felt like I had a job where my potential was put to good use,” said Godinez. Godinez has also been able to get a driver’s license, his first bank account and his first credit card. He is able to rent a car and go out and travel without fear that a routine traffic stop could initiate deportation proceedings. Godinez’s family had not been able to travel since moving to the United States. They have been more willing to do so since DACA. “I think this summer my parents were more willing to travel because I had a license. Kansas City was only four hours away, but that was a small accomplishment for our family. We were able to get out and say we weren’t afraid.” While the exact guidelines of who is new-
ly eligible for DAPA have not been released, it is likely that both of Godinez’s parents will be eligible for deferred action. Completing the community Christina Starzl Mendoza, a community planner for the Community Service Council believes DACA has had a two-fold impact on the Tulsa community. “DACA provides the ability for immigrants to fully contribute and fully engage in the community,” said Mendoza. “There is so much talent in Tulsa that we’re missing out on. We’re always talking about bringing in geniuses from New York or Portland and to me it’s really disappointing because we have so much talent here. Why don’t we invest in the people that are growing up here and have that loyalty to Tulsa?” “I think that it’s really helped inspire a lot of kids who initially thought they didn’t have any options available. We have one kid who was undocumented and grew up with an expectation that he wasn’t going to be able to go to college or work. He became very disengaged in school. He started to get
See DACA p. 2