The federal administration has announced that it will soon stop deporting younger undocumented in immigrants who came into this country as children and have no history of criminal offenses.
According to Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano, the federal administration is exercising its discretion in blocking deportations of young immigrants who were brought into the country by their parents when they were children. These immigrants will now be able to apply for job permits.
However, this deference of prosecutorial action against younger undocumented immigrants is not permanent. Since the administration is using its discretion, the President or any future president could reverse the decision to defer prosecution against these younger immigrants.
As many as 800,000 immigrants are expected to be affected by the federal administration's decision. These immigrants will now be eligible for work permits on the condition that they must have arrived in the country before they were 16 years old and are under the age of 30. They must also have been residents of this country for at least five continuous years and must have graduated from an American high school, received a GED, or served in the military. Most importantly, these young immigrants must have no criminal history in order to be eligible under this decision.
The federal administration has been under pressure for a while from New Jersey immigration lawyers, immigration advocates and other groups. These groups have been highly critical of the administration's inability to stop the deportation of young, law-abiding, undocumented immigrants who were brought into this country when they were children and had no role at all in their immigration.
The New Jersey immigration lawyers at Helmer Paul Conley and Kasselman represent persons in visa, asylum, deportation and other immigration-related matters across New Jersey.
