Immigration Response Team: Latest updates on DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals)

July 29, 2020

Dear friends and colleagues,

On June 18, we were excited to send you an email about the Supreme Court’s decision to reject efforts to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Despite this good news and a subsequent federal court decision that reaffirmed the Department of Homeland Security must comply with the Supreme Court ruling, the Department of Homeland Security Tuesday issued a memorandum making immediate changes to curtail the program by:

  • Declaring all initial DACA applications will be rejected along with the individuals’ associated applications for Employment Authorization Documents;
  • Stating all new and pending requests for advanced parole (the permission needed for DACA recipients to reenter the U.S. after traveling abroad) will be rejected unless there are exceptional circumstances to the requests; and,
  • Shortening the protections for those renewing their DACA filing (including protections from deportation and the issuance of work authorization) to one year rather than two.

This announcement means that new individuals (including those who were previously too young to apply but have now turned 18) will not be able to apply for DACA’s protections, and those individuals who already have been granted DACA will need to go through the renewal process (including paying the $500 application fee) every year rather than every two.

To the DACA recipients, undocumented students, and other immigrants in the UMN community: We at the Immigration Response Team know that you may feel like you are on an emotional rollercoaster that will not end as each of these announcements are made. The Immigration Response Team staff continues to be here to provide assistance and support in whatever way we can. In particular, we encourage eligible students to apply for funding from the Dream Fund now for the fall semester. While you will not receive the funds until the start of classes, applying now means we can review your application and let you know how much funding you can plan on receiving from the Dream Fund.

To the broader UMN Community: It is clear immigration-related announcements will likely continue. We encourage you to check in with the immigrants in your programs and those you know to express your support. We also encourage you to:

The Immigration Response Team staff remains available to meet with departments and anyone in the UMN community to discuss immigration-related matters and what they mean for the UMN. Email immigration@umn.edu if you have questions or if you want to make an appointment to talk further.

Marissa Hill-Dongre
Director, Immigration Response Team

Updates from ISSS

There have been a number of announcements this summer impacting international students and scholars at the University of Minnesota. Please review the following announcements from International Student and Scholar Services and email isss@umn.edu with questions.