Indian Americans, who have their undocumented parents living with them in the US, have been dealt a major blow with President Donald Trump rescinding a 2014 executive order of his predecessor Barack Obama that provided relief from deportation.
As per a report in India West, there are over 111,000 undocumented Indian parents of American citizens, who benefitted from Obama’s order, called Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA). Obama’s order would have allowed the parents also to acquire driving licences as well as get work authorisation.
According to the Migration Policy Institute, there are 284,000 undocumented Indians in the US with the overall undocumented people in the US being over 4.3 million.
About children—as per the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programme, providing relief from deportation to 700,000 undocumented youth—Trump has yet to decide. He said it was under consideration.
According to Jonathan Hoffman, assistant secretary for public affairs at DHS, quoted in The New York Times: “There has been no final determination made about the DACA program, which the president has stressed needs to be handled with compassion and with heart.”
—India Legal Bureau