‘This just isn’t right’: Uncertainty remains for UC Berkeley’s dreamers as DACA renewal deadline arrives

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Although dozens of UC Berkeley students protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program have submitted their applications for renewal by the Oct. 5 deadline, uncertainty looms in the undocumented community about the future of the program.

The Trump administration announced its intent to repeal DACA on Sept. 5. DACA, an immigration policy established by the Obama administration in 2012, allows undocumented people who entered the United States as minors to live, work and study legally in the country. With the announcement of the repeal, recipients of DACA, whose permits are set to expire between the announced rescission of the program and March 5, 2018, were given until Oct. 5 to file for renewal.

Meng So, director of the UC Berkeley Undocumented Student Program, said in an email that the campus program has helped about 60 students with DACA renewals since the repeal was announced, with all application expenses covered. At UC Berkeley, about 400 undocumented students are recipients of DACA, and of the approximately 4,000 undocumented students in the entire UC system, a “substantial number” benefit from DACA, according to UC spokesperson Stephanie Beechem.