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End of the American dream for 8,000 Indian 'dreamers'

WION Web Team
New Delhi, IndiaUpdated: Sep 06, 2017, 09:04 AM IST
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Trump's action was announced by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Photograph:(Reuters)

What is the Dreamer's program?

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA was passed in 2012 by Obama administration to protect eligible immigrant youth who came to the United States when they were children from deportation.

The undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children are termed "Dreamers" in the country.

Roughly 800,000 people have approved for the program.

To meet the eligibility criteria, applicants should have arrived in the states before the age of 16 and should have lived there since June 15, 2007. They should not be more than 30 years of age in 2012 when the act was passed. 

Recipients have been able to obtain driving licenses, apply for degrees and jobs. They also become taxpayers.

However, they were not given official US citizenship or permanent residents.

Dreamers were able to apply to defer deportation and legally reside in the US for two years. They could then apply for renewal. 

Indian Dreamers in the US

Approximately 8,000 Indian-Americans are among the estimated 800,000, facing the threat of deportation after the Trump administration announced the scrapping of the program.

The program ends on March 5th, 2018 and that is all the time they are protected from deportation, hardly a 6-month deadline.

Also, an additional 14,000 undocumented immigrants from India were among the 1.9 million people eligible for DACA, according to the Migration Policy Institute.

The Department of Homeland Security said in a separate announcement it would no longer accept new applications under DACA