Houston, TX - From today until Sept 30, immigrant youth, advocates, and community volunteers will host FREE events to help immigrant youth and families renew the protection from deportation and work permits made available by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA), which Trump ruthlessly killed just weeks ago. Over 150,000 young people nationwide are in a frenzied rush to submit their renewal applications and fees ahead of Trump’s arbitrary October 5th, 2017 deadline.

United We Dream Houston, an affiliate of the United We Dream Network, will also have scholarships available to help 100-150 DACA recipients cover the $495 cost of filing fees in full.

With Trump’s termination of the DACA program, only youth who meet the below requirements are eligible to renew:

No new (first-time) DACA applications will be accepted or processed after September 5th

Only those whose DACA expires between now and March 5, 2018 are eligible for renewal

The DACA renewal application (forms I-821D, I-765 and I-765 Worksheet) must be received by the United States Citizenship & Immigration Services by Oct. 5th, 2017.

Oscar Hernandez, organizer with United We Dream Houston, and DACA recipient said:

“Our community has been in rapid response mode since before Hurricane Harvey to provide and share the support our community needs, whether it be helping clear out homes, staffing a hotline to answer DACA and SB 4 questions, to connecting people with the resources they need to renew their DACA permits. United We Dream Houston is working hard in this short period of time to help at least 100 immigrant youth in Houston get their DACA renewed free of charge.”

Daniel Candelaria, organizer with United We Dream said: “Immigrant youth are #HereToStay and we are here to help young people in our community renew their DACA. We need everyone to donate to the DACA Renewal Fund and join with us in fighting for a clean Dream Act to protect immigrants like from deportation by texting HereToStay to 877-877.”

People from all over the country donated funds for the scholarships through the DACA Renewal Fund, which was created by United We Dream, the nation’s largest immigrant youth network and with the support of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC). Additional support comes from FWD.us, which provided digital capacity to support this work. The quick effort to deliver the funds was made possible by Amalgamated Bank.

Sat. September 23

What: FREE DACA renewal clinic — volunteers will process applications and attorneys will be on hand to review applications.

When:

Saturday, 9/23, 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM

Where: St. Luke’s Gethsemane Campus, 6856 Bellaire Blvd, Houston,TX 77074

Sun. September 24

What: FREE DACA renewal clinic — volunteers will process applications and attorneys will be on hand to review applications.

When: Sunday, 9/24, 2:00 PM

Where: Iglesia Cristo Rey, 767 Ave A, Beaumont,TX 77701

Sat. September 30

What: FREE DACA renewal clinic — volunteers will process applications and attorneys will be on hand to review applications.

When: Saturday, 9/30, 9:00 AM - 5:00:00 PM

Where: 11360 Bellaire Blvd, Ste 910, Houston, TX 77072

Walk-ins and Appointments are available throughout Houston at various times. For the latest information visit: http://bit.ly/RenewDACAFree or http://www.houstonimmigration.org/events

Background

On September 5, 2017, the Trump Administration shamefully announced that they would kill the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The lives of more than 800,000 immigrant youth who have benefited from this program over the last 5 years were immediately upended.

The urgency of this humanitarian crisis cannot be overstated. DACA protections and work permits will remain valid until only until the expiration dates printed on the cards. Those with work permits that expire between now and March 5th of 2018 must be submitted for renewal by October 5th, 2017. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) estimates that there are approximately 154,000 individuals who qualify for these renewals.

After that, about 30,000 immigrant youth will lose their work permits and deportation protection every month. Without the social security numbers and work permits provided by DACA, these young people are immediately at risk of losing their access to higher education, lawful employment, and relief from deportation.