On Saturday December 6th 2014 CMS held an informational session on Administrative Relief at St. Sebastian Parish Center. Over 300 people attended this event to gather more information on the new policy that will provide an opportunity for certain undocumented immigrants in the United States to apply for a limited form of immigration legal relief.
Our Director of Legal Services, Robert McCreanor discussed Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). For the DAPA program parents must have a child who is a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident as of November 20 th 2014 and have resided in the United States since January 1 st 2010. For the DACA program applicants must have resided in the United States since January 1 st 2010 and have entered the country before they were 16 years old.
The application for DAPA or for the expansion of DACA has not been released. The DACA application will be available in February and the DAPA application will be available in May. The United States government has not yet established procedures for individuals to get relief under this new program. Therefore, it is important that immigrants beware of advertisements or solicitations which promise legal assistance.
In furtherance of our mission to “Welcome the Stranger”, the Diocese of Brooklyn aims to provide reliable information and legal assistance to parishioners and other immigrants in response to this new executive action. CMS will spearhead our Diocesan-wide effort to bring accessible and affordable services to eligible immigrants under this program.
For more information about CMS, please contact our Brooklyn office at 718-236-3000 or the Queens office at 347-472-3500. You can also visit Catholic Migration Services.
