“Amy” told Action 4 News she has waited for this moment her entire life.
She came to the United States with her mother at the age of three.
Always looking over her shoulder, Amy said she never led a normal life and she has always wanted more—a job and education.
"My dream is to help support my mom,” ‘Amy’ explained. “She's struggling a lot right now with the economic situation. I really want to help her."
Now she can finally do that.
“Amy” said she was excited when President Barak Obama made the announcement about deferred action—however she now confused and does not know where to start or who to talk too.
"I'm trying to figure out how to make this whole process happen as quickly as possible and for me to finally be here....legally," Amy said.
The process can be tricky—there are three application and they all ask for different things.
One wrong move and that application can be denied—once that happens there is no appeal process.
Attorney San Juanita Reyna-Campos has handled immigration cases for years.
She told Action 4 News that since deferred action was announced in June she has been inundated with phone calls.
The immigration attorney said, like “Amy”, many do not know where to begin.
“The need to go to a licensed attorney. There are three different applications and the situation that I see is that people do not understand some of the questions. They misinterpret the question and answer it a certain way---that answer can come across as your committing fraud or lying,” Campos explained. “In essence a person did not know and they could be denied for that reason.”
To qualify for deferred action there are five things a person should check off the list:
- Applicants have to come to the U.S. prior to their 15th birthday
- They have to have been in the U.S. for the last five years
- They must be attending school, graduated, or getting a GED
- They cannot have a criminal history
- And they have to be under the age of 30 when President Obama made the announcement on June 15th
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