Two local “Dreamers” file suit against abrupt change in federal immigration policy

These advocates with the Annandale-based National Korean American Service & Education Consortium urge Congress to extend the Dream Act to protect immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children. [NAKASEC]

Nurimaro Park of Fairfax and Jonathan Alvarenga Recinos of Alexandria suddenly lost their status under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, when the federal government changed the rules without warning.

They are among the 50,000 immigrants in the United States who had been planning to reapply for DACA status but now find themselves at risk of deportation.

Park and Recinos are the lead plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed on their behalf Nov. 21 by the Legal Aid Justice Center against Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The suit charges the Trump Administration’s decision to change the rules on DACA renewals without advance warning violated their constitutional rights.

DACA permits certain undocumented individuals who had been brought to the United States when they were young and can pass a background check to apply for a temporary legal status that protects them from deportation and allows them to apply for work permits and drivers’ licenses, and in some cases, attend college at the in-state tuition rate.

DACA has allowed about 14,000 people in Virginia to lead productive lives. They have contributed about $711 million to the state’s economy.

“DACA changed my life,” said Park, age 26. “Before DACA, I didn’t see much of a future for myself. I was always anxious, my job prospects were poor, and I couldn’t even get a driver’s license. Even though my family came to this country from Korea to give me a better life, I didn’t see myself being able to have much of a life at all.”

Immigrants with DACA status, known as “Dreamers,” must renew their status every two years.

On Sept. 5, Sessions announced that DACA would be phased out in March 2018. What Sessions didn’t announce that day was that the rule giving people a year to renew their DACA status was terminated immediately. Anyone who hadn’t renewed their status was out of luck with no chance to renew.

“To change a deadline without telling people that you are going to do it, and then denying them DACA because they missed the deadline that they had no way of knowing about, violates a basic sense of fair play and decency, and it also violates the Constitution,” said Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, legal director of the Immigrant Advocacy Program at the Legal Aid Justice Center at a news conference on the lawsuit.

“This is completely unfair and violates the principle of due process,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said. “The government can change the rules but it has to give people fair notice.”

Park’s second two-year DACA extension had lapsed in May. He couldn’t afford the $495 renewal fee then, but knew he had a year to renew and was saving his money.

When the government changed the policy on renewals, “I was crushed,” Park said. “I had no warning.” If the government had notified people about the changing policy, he could have borrowed money to pay the fee.

“Nurimaro Park played by the rules, but the Trump Administration changed the rules on him,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said.

“Dreamers are individuals who have contributed to society and, by and large, this is the only country they know,” said Patrick David Lopez of the Outten & Golden law firm, who is representing the two plaintiffs on a pro bono basis. DACA “allowed people to come out of shadows.” Sessions’ announcement to abruptly rescind the policy without notice “basically took thousands and thousands of Dreamers and pushed them back into the shadows.”

Park, who considers himself an American, was brought to the United States in 2000 as a fifth-grader. After graduating from Woodson High School, he worked as a tutor for Kaplan and earned an associate degree in computer science from Northern Virginia Community College.

He is now at risk of being deported and losing his job. “Once I’m deported, there’s no coming back,” he said. “I’m tired of postponing my life.”

Recinos, age 17, was brought to the United States from El Salvador when he was 7. He attained DACA status in 2013 and renewed it in 2015.

Recinos worked part time in a shoe store and restaurant while in high school and, after he graduated in June, was planning to work full time and take classes at NOVA.

When he tried to renew this summer, he went to a notario, a notary who provides immigration services but was not authorized to practice law. The notario filled out the wrong form, and Recinos’ application was rejected. He then filled out the correct form, mailed it before Sept. 5, but it was too late, as it arrived after the deadline.

Giving Dreamers a chance to renew their status for another two years would allow them breathing room to finish a degree, save money, and seek another form of legal status. Meanwhile the Legal Aid Justice Center is urging Congress to pass a “Clean Dream Act.”

The federal government has 60 days to file a response to the suit. Sandoval-Moshenberg predicts the federal government will ask the judge to dismiss the suit but is optimistic the plaintiffs will win their case.

Sandoval-Moshenberg said he is impressed by the bravery of the plaintiffs for sticking their necks out and agreeing to put their names on the lawsuit. He doesn’t think the government will retaliate against them but if it does, “that would be shocking and unprecedented.”