José G. Rivas has gotten used to people asking him why, after so much time living in the United States, he hasn’t taken steps to “fix” his status as an undocumented immigrant.
The 27-year-old graduate student at the University of Wyoming wishes becoming a citizen were that simple.
“I get that a lot,” he says. “They say, ‘You’ve been in the United States for more than 20 years. What’s holding you back?’”
It’s not an easy path, and indeed for many, there is no path.
Under current immigration law, it is extremely difficult for students like Mr. Rivas, who has temporary protection from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, to get permanent legal status.
“It’s not an easy path, and indeed for many, there is no path,” says Thomas A. Saenz, president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. “Folks have this general notion of fairness and think that somehow there has to be an avenue for relief. There isn’t an appreciation for how unjust our immigration system is.”
Dan H. Berger, an immigration lawyer, says that many of the college students he advises are uncertain about their families’ complicated immigration histories and have never had effective legal advice.
Still, “if you do a deep dive with each of these students,” he says, “there’s sometimes something you can do.”
His firm puts out a guide that focuses on steps that it says can eventually lead to green cards for DACA recipients, as well as some undocumented students who don’t have DACA status. That might involve returning for a period of time to one’s home country if the person entered the United States illegally, as did many who were brought to the country as children.
Some who favor tougher immigration laws see that as a sensible approach. But it’s a nonstarter for many immigrants, as the guide acknowledges.
Returning to an unfamiliar country — for an indefinite period, and with no guarantee of re-entry to the United States — “is scary to say the least,” the guide states.
Some DACA students, however, came to the United States with a visa, but then overstayed it with their families. Even more received DACA before they turned 18 and a half, which means they aren’t considered to have been unlawfully present in the United States as adults. Entering with a visa or having no unlawful presence can make the path to long-term status smoother, Mr. Berger says.
Getting an employer to sponsor an immigrant for a green card is a path that usually works best for high-skilled jobs that may require an advanced degree or years of work. So that’s more of a long-term strategy. But there are other, less obvious avenues.
If someone was the victim of or witnessed a serious crime in the United States and reported it to the police, he or she might be eligible for a U-Visa, which in some situations can provide a path to legal status, says Mr. Berger. One college student he advised who pursued that route was the victim of stalking and another had been assaulted.
The U-Visa law was passed to encourage crime victims to cooperate with authorities without fear of deportation.
Marrying a U.S. citizen is another avenue to a green card, but even then, it can be a long, drawn-out process, especially if someone entered the country without a visa as opposed to overstaying a visa.
That’s where having advance parole — proof that you entered the country legally — might help. Advance parole is a special permission granted to undocumented immigrants who want to travel for education, job, or humanitarian reasons. That legal entry may help avoid longer processing times abroad for those who marry U.S. citizens.
‘No Line That You Can Get In’
Another immigration expert bristles at the suggestion that any undocumented students had options they didn’t pursue.
“There is not a single one of these students who would not have pursued lawful permanent status if they had had that option,” says Michael A. Olivas, a professor at the University of Houston who teaches immigration law and higher-education law. “There is no line that you can get in,” adds Mr. Olivas, who is serving as interim president at the University of Houston-Downtown. “These folks have deportation hanging over their heads.”
There is not a single one of these students who would not have pursued lawful permanent status if they had had that option.
Ignacia Rodriguez, an immigration-policy advocate with the National Immigration Law Council, says that there are waivers to allow undocumented immigrants to remain in the United States legally but that “they’re extremely hard” to obtain. Depending on how they entered the country, immigrants might have to leave for up to 10 years to be eligible.
“People wonder what they can do to fix their immigration status, but due to factors outside their control, either a process doesn’t exist for them or somewhere along the way, they became ineligible,” she says. That might occur, she adds, if someone was too old to be sponsored by parents who had obtained legal status.
Yahaira Morales Castro, a 20-year-old undocumented junior at the University of Texas at Austin, was a sophomore in high school, eager to get a driver’s license and a part-time job, when her parents finally sat her down and told her she was undocumented.
Neither of those rights of passage for teenagers was possible for her until DACA went into effect a short time later. Now that she’s looking beyond DACA, whose future under a Trump administration is uncertain, none of the narrow avenues for citizenship offer much hope.
“I don’t expect to get married anytime soon, nor do I want to be a victim of anything just to get my status fixed,” she wrote in an email to The Chronicle. “I don’t think that’s fair.”
She says employers, friends, and relatives in Mexico ask her all the time why she hasn’t “fixed” her status. She says it gets repetitive, but she appreciates the chance to educate people about the bind that undocumented students are in.
“Honestly, I’ve played by the rules all my life, and it doesn’t make sense why anyone would want to take DACA away or prevent people in my situation from alleviating their immigration status any further.”
Katherine Mangan writes about community colleges, completion efforts, and job training, as well as other topics in daily news. Follow her on Twitter @KatherineMangan, or email her at katherine.mangan@chronicle.com.
