Young immigrants in Sonoma County join race to renew deportation reprieve

As federal immigration authorities extend a key Obama-era program, young undocumented immigrants are girding for an uncertain future.|

Upcoming events

A vigil will be held every Monday leading up to the “Walk Out for Immigration Reform” event on March 5, said Rafael Vazquez, an outreach coordinator at Santa Rosa Junior College, where the march to downtown will start.

The junior college is also hosting a DACA renewal clinic at 10 a.m. on Saturday, followed by a Jan. 27 workshop to help families create a child care plan in case they are detained by immigration authorities.

Foreign-born residents of Sonoma County have joined the rush of young immigrants nationwide who are scrambling to renew their requests for temporary protection from deportation, taking advantage of a court-ordered move by Trump administration to resume accepting such paperwork while it seeks to end the Obama-era program.

Itzel Lopez Sanchez, 22, of Santa Rosa is one of those seeking a renewed protected status with the federal government. Her deportation reprieve and work permit are up in May. On Saturday, she plans to seek assistance with her application at a clinic at Santa Rosa Junior College.

“You don’t know if it can end again, or something else is going to happen,” Sanchez said about the federal program, which has provided temporary deportation reprieve and work permits to 800,000 young immigrants brought into the country illegally as children.

Attorneys and immigration advocates have been encouraging so-called Dreamers to renew their protected status while they still can, including those in Sonoma County, where 3,000 young immigrants have ?benefited from DACA, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

On Wednesday, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who secured a preliminary injunction from a San Francisco judge that extended the program, added his voice to those urging young immigrants to renew as soon as possible.

“If your status is expiring or did expire, consider renewing your DACA application now,” Becerra at a news conference, where he was flanked by the state’s top three higher education officials.

He joined the attorney generals of Maine, Maryland and Minnesota, the University of California and others in suing the administration over plans to end DACA.

“We will fight because we believe that those who built this country, who built California, should continue to have opportunity,” Becerra said.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Justice said it would appeal the judge’s injunction in the case and ask the Supreme Court to intervene.

The move came after the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services quietly announced on its website Saturday it was taking DACA applications - two days after President Donald Trump, in a White House meeting on a bipartisan immigration overhaul, reportedly used a slur in describing Haiti and African countries.

In the days since, Richard Coshnear, a Santa Rosa immigration attorney who heads an immigration advocacy group called VIDAS, said he received several calls from people eager to renew their protected status.

Coshnear cautioned undocumented immigrants to be vigilant as the standoff intensifies between the president and Congress on a potential immigration deal. He questioned whether immigration authorities would handle renewal applications fairly, or deny them without cause. He said applicants have no way to appeal a decision, or recover the $495 fee.

“There is a chance (Citizenship and Immigration Services) will take their money and then wait for a contrary decision by an appellant court and then deny the application,” Coshnear said. “It’s apply at your own risk.”

He advised people with a criminal record not to renew, even if the offenses are misdemeanors. Immigrants with minor offenses remained eligible under President Barack Obama, but Coshnear said the current administration may not show the same leniency.

Lopez, who was 8 when she and her Mexican family left their native Oaxaca, is studying to be an elementary school teacher. She depends on her job at a children’s after-school program to cover tuition. Despite all the debate and controversy surrounding immigration, she’s optimistic a longterm deal can be reached to protect Dreamers.

“You always keep hope the best is going to come,” said Lopez, who participated Monday in an immigration vigil in front of the Roseland Village Neighborhood Center on Sebastopol Road.

About two dozen people, including special education teacher Ilona Reitzner, gathered for the demonstration, where they handed out fliers about Saturday’s DACA renewal clinic and called for immigration reform. They also brought attention to the nearly 200,000 Salvadoran immigrants who’ll have to leave the United States by next year after federal officials announced they’re ending a separate program that safeguarded them from deportation.

Reitzner said she worries the nation and California will lose many teachers who depend on DACA to work. The Migration Policy Institute estimates there are 5,000 DACA participants working as educators in California.

“As teachers we need to be speaking up on behalf our students and workers,” Reitzner said.

The recent immigration sweeps targeting 7-Eleven franchises across the country, including stores in Petaluma, Santa Rosa and Sebastopol, sparked fear and concerns in the undocumented community, said Héctor Jiménez Careño, a Santa Rosa Junior College student taking part in Monday’s vigil. He said he was alarmed, despite having protected status.

“It’s always in the back of my mind,” Jiménez, 21, said about deportation. “With the recent raids at 7-Eleven, what would have happened if I stopped by? That trauma is certainly with you.”

He was just a 1-year-old when his family brought him to Sonoma County from Oaxaca. Jiménez, who’s calling for a more comprehensive immigration reform, said he worries about his undocumented parents and his U.S.-born brothers, who suffer from heart defects and require medical care.

Denia Candela, director of the nonprofit My American Dreams, is working to tell the stories of DACA participants through short documentaries. A DACA recipient herself, Candela said it’s important to shed light on the issues facing local immigrants, as well as provide resources for them, especially at a time of heightened political uncertainty.

“It really puts a light into where we need to head when we have leadership like that,” said Candela, who also serves as a board member of Los Cien, the Sonoma County Latino organization.

“We’re going to stand together until things are made right,” she said.

You can reach Staff Writer Eloísa Ruano González at 707-521-5458 or eloisa.gonzalez@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @eloisanews.

Upcoming events

A vigil will be held every Monday leading up to the “Walk Out for Immigration Reform” event on March 5, said Rafael Vazquez, an outreach coordinator at Santa Rosa Junior College, where the march to downtown will start.

The junior college is also hosting a DACA renewal clinic at 10 a.m. on Saturday, followed by a Jan. 27 workshop to help families create a child care plan in case they are detained by immigration authorities.

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