SAN FRANCISCO – When U.S. immigration officials said Jan. 13 they would honor a court order and accept renewal applications from the young people known as "Dreamers" whose fate is at the center of a congressional stalemate, Jose Perez was ready.
But first, the 21-year-old college student and jewelry consultant had to get paid. The application price for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, is $495. He got his paycheck Thursday. By Friday, he had filled out his application and sent it off.
"It's like a wave of calm," he said.
Still, Perez, like many others across the country, doesn't know for sure whether his application will be processed and result in a two-year extension of his protected status, which is now set to run out in May. He could only invest and hope.
President Donald Trump ordered the childhood arrivals program rescinded in September, while allowing those who had permits expiring before March 5 to apply for renewals. Months later, the uncertainty around DACA — which protects nearly 700,000 people from deportation and provides them work permits — has only grown, even as Democrats push for Congress to save it.
On Jan. 9, U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco ordered the government to allow renewal applications from DACA recipients. Alsup ruled that the Trump administration had offered "no reasonable explanation" for ending the program that former President Barack Obama created in 2012.
The Department of Justice appealed Alsup's ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, and on Friday the agency requested a hearing in February. The government said it did not ask the court to suspend the ruling until the appeal is heard because that would lead to another "abrupt shift" in immigration policy, rather than the "orderly wind-down" of the program that the administration prefers.
Where that leaves Perez and others is unclear.
When asked whether the government would accept the applications now coming in regardless of future court decisions — or refund the $495 fee if it won't — a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesperson said the agency "does not comment on litigation."
This hasn't stopped waves of applicants from filing into the offices of attorneys and advocates, seeking help with their renewals.
In the Bay Area, a mother eight months pregnant came to the Catholic Charities of the East Bay office for help with her 17-year-old son's renewal application. She brought money she had saved for baby supplies. His protections are set to run out in mid-March.
The organization paid the fee, following its practice of helping those who can't afford it.
"The whole legal department has prioritized the efforts to help clients' renewals, as we do not know long this window will remain open," said legal services supervisor Ingrid Ovelar-Laterza. "Dreamers are anxious and feel in limbo while Washington is playing political games with their fate."
