Congresswoman Lois Capps hosted a workshop to aid aspiring students, military recruits and their families in applying for deferred action, which can keep them from being deported.
The workshop took place from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 11 in the Wake Center and a follow-up workshop will occur Saturday, by appointment.
“It’s exactly what it says; it’s the fulfillment of a dream,” Capps said. “Who could ask for more? We need to do something about the millions of people living in the shadow, so hopefully this is one step.”
In June, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service passed the DREAM Act, granting work permits to undocumented people, ages 15 to 30, which prevent them from being deported.
The act applies to law-abiding young people who are seeking an education or serving in the military and do not have a criminal record. They are referred to as dreamers.
“Most of them who came to this country didn’t make the decision to come or not to come,” said the congresswoman. “They came as part of a family and took advantage of the opportunity of getting a good education and then, the door slammed shut. Right when they couldn’t really take those steps that would benefit them and really benefit our country.”
At the workshop, Roland Lyons, officer of U.S. citizen immigration services, discussed the application process and answered questions. Representatives from local organizations were also available to help dreamers prepare their applications for deferred action.
Capps said a lot of credit for initiating the workshop series should go to Blanca Figueroa, one of her newer staff members.
“She saw how complicated it is and she knew it was going to be hard, but then she got experience working with some of the people who came to our office,” Capps said. “She began to help them one at a time and she thought, ‘Oh, this is going to take forever and people are going to miss out because they won’t know to come to me or the general process of filling out the application,’” said Capps.
Capps said she has been working for years to stop the deportation of eager and hard-working young people. She believes it will help thousands of those brought to this country as children who are interested in furthering their education or serving the country. She also said the Obama Administration’s move will help recognize the commitment these people are making to our country.
“The main goal is to help teach students how to do this process so they don’t have to pay for lawyers who are taking advantage of this situation right now and charging over $1,000 for any students to fill out three simple applications,” said Figueroa, Capps’ representative.
According to estimates from the Immigration Center, 290,030 undocumented people could benefit immediately from a deferred action status. Of those, 7,180 reside in California’s 23rd Congressional District, home to Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties.
“There’s a lot of people that need help, so we’re going to do a follow-up workshop on Saturday so we can revise the form and make sure everything is correct,” said Figueroa.
The audience consisted mostly of young adults and their parents. Although fewer people attended this seminar than the 500-plus turnout at Capps’ Santa Maria workshop, the audience was engaged, listening intently and asking questions until the last minute.
“[City College is] an institution that is committed to being the go-to institution for every segment of our community,” said City College president Lori Gaskin. “That includes those who have long been traditionally underrepresented in higher education as well as those who are second language learners and those who are first generation [of their family attending] college. What we are targeting are those students who have not had the opportunity to pursue higher education as a goal.”
Officials from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Mexican consulate, as well as representatives from the Santa Barbara Unified School District, SBCC Community Education Center, United Communities, Future Leaders of America and UCSB were all in attendance.
