Workshops Offered for 'Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals' Program

Immigrant advocates plan to hold workshops starting Wednesday to help young immigrants without papers take advantage of a new Obama administration program under which they can avoid deportation and obtain the right to work.

Undocumented youth who qualify for the program, called Deferred Action
for Childhood Arrivals, beginning today can file applications downloaded from
the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website. Each one must be accompanied by a $465 fee.

The program in itself will not produce immediate citizenship or give its participants permission to travel outside the United States.

To take part, immigrants must be under 31 and prove they arrived before they turned 16, have been in the country at least five years, are in school or have either graduated or served in the military. They also cannot have a criminal record.

Immigrant advocates are planning ceremonial events to welcome the new policy and workshops to instruct participants how to proceed. The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles says its staff will be helping undocumented youth with paperwork starting today.

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