Current State
Current State
While there has been much attention on the crisis of young people under the age of 18 fleeing violence and seeking refuge in the United States, there has been far less attention on 18-30 year old youth fleeing the same violence. Those fleeing who have already turned 18 are at a similar risk to their under 18 counterparts, yet have far less legal protections outside of asylum and certain protected status that are hard to navigate. This is leaving hundreds of thousands of 18-30 year old youth at risk of detention, deportation, and exploitation.
The intersectionality between youth immigrant and LGBTQ identity puts hundreds of thousands of youth at higher risk for discrimination in employment, education, and housing, contributing to a higher rate of homelessness. A recent study by ULCA founds that nearly 1 million LGBTQ immigrants living in the states, with over 250,000 of them being undocumented. (1) A recent survey by United We Dream found that LGBTQ youth immigrants faced high levels of discrimination at schools, in job market, housing and health care, as well as harassment by law enforcement and courts. They also face difficulties in navigating the LGBTQ service providers in their communities. (2)
About half (47 percent) of all undocumented college students were brought to the U.S. before age 12, and 39 percent arrived between the ages of 13 and 21. (3) Yet these students do not have access to federal student aid, often cannot receive in-state tuition, and often are barred from state-based scholarship, putting them at higher risk of dropping out and/or losing their housing while trying to reach their educational goals.
According to the Migration Policy Institute, approximately 1.2 million undocumented youth were immediately DACA eligible as of 2013.8 An additional 402,000 people meet the age, age-at arrival, and year of arrival requirements for DACA, but do not meet the necessary educational requirements. Another 423,000 people will “age into” DACA when they turn 15 and meet all of the other requirements. (4) Although DACA is a reform effort at best, numerous studies have shown the positive impact on the education, economic, and well-being outcomes of immigrant youth who receive DACA.
The previous administration's systematic attack on DACA through numerous attempts to block new eligible applicants, roadblocks to renewing DACA status, and shortened the protection times caused serious harm that will take years to undo and contributed to growing fear around enforcement efforts leading to more Dreamers not renewing DACA status.
The current immigration system offers several different types of protective status for people fleeing violence and other disasters, the legal status and supports are complex, extremely limited in the amount of youth who can qualify and were targeted and attacked under the last administration. Status include Temporary Protection Status, asylum, and refugee status. All of which were restricted in numbers and countries under the last administration, and each of which has limitations on access to economic support, employment, and housing. A particular hardship for asylum seekers is extended detention times while awaiting immigration proceedings - many are lingering in overcrowded and dangerous immigration detention centers for years.
The road to citizenship in this country is complex, expensive, full of traps, and lacking the support necessary. The current system leads to several hundreds of thousands of immigrants being detained and deported each year. Detention and deportations have been on the rise for the last two federal administrations, leading to thousands of youth returning to places where they are being exploited or even murdered.