Arizona group offering free help for DACA recipients before renewal date

PHOENIX — The deadline for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients to renew their status is around the corner, and one Arizona organization is looking to help so-called DREAMers fill out their applications on time.

Recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as DACA,  have until Oct. 5 to renew their status if it expires before March 5, 2018. Officials in Arizona recommend sending the application in by Oct. 3 to get it in on time.

Promise Arizona is offering free daily assistance through Tuesday to help DACA recipients fill out their applications, as well as scholarships to help cover the $495 renewal fee.

Staff members and volunteers with the organization will be offering the services at the group’s headquarters in downtown Phoenix from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day.

Promise Arizona will also host a free DACA clinic at Isaac School District’s Business Center in Phoenix from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday and at Immaculate Heart Church in Phoenix from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.

The scholarships for the renewal fees are being offered on a first-come, first-serve basis, the organization said. It was not known how much of the cost that the scholarships would cover.

Petra Falcon, the organization’s executive director, said in a statement that applicants should send the form in overnight express and request a signature so the arrival time of their renewal form can be tracked.

But Promise Arizona is not the only local organization lending a hand to DREAMers: Living United for Change in Arizona will be helping DACA recipients fill out their applications from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday and Monday at its office on 19th Avenue and Osborn Road in Phoenix.

Abril Gallardo, the group’s communications director, told KTAR News 92.3 FM that the office will be open for individuals walk in and fill out their applications with the help of volunteer attorneys. There will also be 70 scholarships available to help pay for the application fee.

The Trump administration put an end to DACA, an Obama-era program that granted temporary work permits to undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children, in September, leaving hundreds of thousands of people at risk.

Nearly 800,000 young immigrants had been granted a reprieve from deportation and the ability to work legally in the U.S. under the program, which was created in 2012 by former President Barack Obama.

Arizona is home to about 4 percent of all DACA recipients nationwide, with about 25,500 young undocumented immigrants enrolled in the program, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data.

Trump announced that the program would be ended with a six-month delay to allow Congress to decide whether it wants to write legislation to protect the DREAMers.

A group of senators reintroduced legislation to give those immigrants a path to citizenship in July, but the future of the legislation is unknown.

KTAR News’ Griselda Zetino contributed to this report. 

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