By: EFE Agency ~ September 2, 2020
Los Angeles, Calif. (EFE News) -- A group of 87 "dreamers" - beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, DACA - have already submitted their applications for the "Advance Parole" travel authorization through a study abroad program planned to take place between December 2020 and January 2021 in Mexico, despite the restriction on permits imposed last month by the government.
Although the permit is currently restricted to “exceptional circumstances” under the August 21 directive from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), DACA recipients expect their application to be approved in consideration of the issues they will investigate and publish.
Highlighted during an interview with EFE, "on August 21, 2020 USCIS announced a new policy to implement the new regulations to authorize DACA’s 'Advance Parole' permits but only under some aspects," said Armando Vázquez-Ramos, president and director of the California-Mexico Studies Center (CMCS), the entity that organizes the study abroad program in the United States..
One of the aspects cited by the federal government refers to trips that "support the interests of the national security of the United States," although the memorandum establishes that the final decision on permits will be determined at the discretion of the Government based on each request.
The application for a travel permit for these young people is based on the fact that the program "will offer an exceptional opportunity for participating students to explore and investigate various issues relevant to the interests of national security between the United States and Mexico," said Vázquez-Ramos in the letter that accompanied the application package.
The president of CMCS highlighted that the academic proposal is part of the new trade agreement between the US, Mexico and Canada (USMCA) and offers students the opportunity to publish their research "in an academic compendium of migration policy studies , border security, the COVID-19 pandemic and issues related to the importance and interdependence of the regional economy ”.
If permission is obtained, the dreamers from states as diverse as Alabama, Arkansas, New Jersey, New York, Utah, Texas and mostly from California, would travel to Mexico on December 15 and return to the United States on January 19, 2021.
However, the petitions, "which have already been received and are being processed," were submitted for a period of 9 months from December 1, 2020 to August 31, 2021, anticipating that they would not be processed before December or the pandemic could force the postponement of the trip.
Thus, the possibility remains open that in case the academic program could not be carried out in December, it could be carried out in the summer of 2021.
Vázquez-Ramos, a professor at California State University, Long Beach, has already led six similar courses between 2014 and 2017, which have provided research and family reunion opportunities to 160 DACA recipients.
In addition to the academic part, which is "very strict", the young people have two weeks to visit their families, many of whose members they have not seen in many years.
To cover the risks of contagion of coronavirus, the participants will have the monitoring of a doctor who will accompany them on the group trip and examine them upon their return from family trips, explained Vázquez-Ramos.
(c) EFE Agency
