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Article

29 Aug 2012

Author:
Grace Meng, Human Rights Watch

Immigration waivers leave migrant children behind [USA]

The Department of Homeland Security began taking applications on Aug. 15 for "deferred action for childhood arrivals," temporary relief from deportation for unauthorized immigrants who were brought to the USA as children. But...many children who should benefit...won't. To be eligible, applicants must be in school, have graduated from high school or have a GED, or be an honorably discharged veteran. But...[children who work on farms] move with their parents from state to state with planting and harvest change schools, on average, three times a year...[and] drop out at four times the national average...[T]he fact that deferred action will probably exclude many farmworker children underscores how much immigration law is out of sync with the reality of an economy that depends on unauthorized immigrants and American families whose loved ones are unauthorized.