An estimated 1,800 undocumented Mexican immigrants live in Alaska. There is no account of how many undocumented immigrants of other nationalities may be in the state. Some immigrants may now be eligible for an expanded deferred action program announced last week by President Barack Obama.
The president’s executive order may not become official any time soon, according to the Immigration Justice Project’s Robin Bronin. She says there are few details as yet, and it could be six months before applications are available. But, she cautions, undocumented immigrants who could qualify should start gathering proof of identification now.
“This is a program to make sure the people who are living here, who are contributing to our community, have immigration documents so that they can get, for instance, driver’s licenses and not be afraid that when they are taking their children to school that they are going to be deported from the United States,” Bronin says
Obama last week announced his executive action on a plan to grant temporary, three-year legal status to up to five million undocumented immigrants who have family in the United States. The president’s plan does not grant them citizenship, but it does expand an earlier program aimed at keeping undocumented immigrant children in the US. The earlier Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals plan helped one Anchorage woman who arrived in Alaska as an undocumented immigrant at age 13. She spoke through a translator.
“I’m very happy because I am not anymore afraid of driving, and I can go to work, and I can keep my family together,” the woman said.
Attorney Bronin says it is critical for applicants for the expanded deferred action program to show that they have been in the U.S. since January 2010.
The president’s action is intended to allow undocumented immigrant parents of children born in the U.S. to remain in the country legally, and it frees federal immigration authorities to target criminals and those undocumented immigrants recently arrived in the US for deportation.
Bronin spoke at the Consulado de Mexico in Anchorage on Monday.
