As a federal judge in the state of Texas has done away with President Obama’s measures to stop 4 million or more immigrants from being sent back to their countries of origin, many families who are unauthorized immigrants are beginning to feel restless. This has stemmed from the President’s efforts of offering temporary legal status to fall beyond their reach and this has proved to be highly frustrating.
If President Obama’s executive actions see the light of day then about 1/3rd of the immigrants living in America would be able to attain temporary protection – this would materialize because they were either brought to the U S when they were children or even because their own children attained legal status in the country.
But there have been so many knee-jerk actions on the immigration reforms over the years that it has so happened that the thousands of immigrants who are already authorized to receive protection have turned pessimistic and have seemed to have caved in – they have given up and are no longer applying for work permits or Social Security numbers that they were entitled to under the President’s 1st executive order in the year 2012. The constant, niggling uncertainty and fears of being deported is what is keeping them away. Moreover, due to the constant battling with reforms immigrants seem to have lost trust in the administration, plus, the nearly 500$ in fees makes it very costly to apply. Patience, in the illegal immigrant community, seems to be wearing thin.