Ahead Of Looming DACA Deadline, Chicago Orgs Offer Free Help

Amina Khan, staff attorney at the Indo-American Center, blocked out ten hours in September to help eligible immigrants fill out their DACA renewal applications. Only one person showed up.
Amina Khan, staff attorney at the Indo-American Center, blocked out ten hours in September to help eligible immigrants fill out their DACA renewal applications. Only one person showed up. (Odette Yousef/WBEZ)
Amina Khan, staff attorney at the Indo-American Center, blocked out ten hours in September to help eligible immigrants fill out their DACA renewal applications. Only one person showed up.
Amina Khan, staff attorney at the Indo-American Center, blocked out ten hours in September to help eligible immigrants fill out their DACA renewal applications. Only one person showed up. (Odette Yousef/WBEZ)

Ahead Of Looming DACA Deadline, Chicago Orgs Offer Free Help

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The Trump Administration announced last month it would end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, in March, while calling on Congress to come up with a long-term solution. 

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will continue to process pending renewal applications and eligible renewal applications received and properly filed (not just postmarked) by the Oct. 5 deadline. And as that deadline nears, organizations in Chicago are boosting the effort to get eligible DACA recipients to submit their renewal applications, even providing free legal help if needed. 

WBEZ reporter Odette Yousef stops by the Morning Shift to break down what Chicago organizations are doing ahead of the Thursday DACA deadline, and what some recipients are planning for the long term.