Chapel Hill entered into a performance agreement with El Centro Hispano to help pay for the DACA renewals in the town.

The Chapel Hill Town Council on Wednesday night authorized the town manager to enter into a performance agreement with El Centro Hispano to assist in the DACA renewal fees for Chapel Hill residents.

The town’s assistant director of the office for Housing and Community Sarah Viñas gave a presentation at the council meeting and said the agreement is in keeping with the council goal of making Chapel Hill a place for everyone.

“According to the Migration Policy institute, there are about 66,000 individuals who are eligible for DACA across the state of North Carolina,” Viñas said. “There’s an estimate of about 22,000 current beneficiaries of DACA across the state and 3,000 Orange County residents who are DACA eligible.”

According to Viñas, the agreement is for up to $5,000. DACA renewals cost $500 per person, which would allow the town to pay for 10 renewals.

Community Engagement and Advocacy Manager for El Centro Eliazar Posada said El Centro has helped over 40 children register for DACA and that while the need is there, there is fear among some DACA recipients about renewing. Posada said that fear is increasing after recent raids and arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.

“We are seeing folks just trying to stay away from a lot of these benefits because you would have to update your address, you would have to update all of your information, and usually students don’t live alone, they live with their parents. And usually if the student has DACA, the parent usually does not have citizenship or residency,” Posada said.

“So, the question then becomes, ‘I’m putting my information out there; they know where I live, does that information later come back and hurt my parents or hurt the people in my community?’”

This week, three ICE raids in Orange County were confirmed by El Centro in Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough.

Posada said El Centro does full screenings for individuals and families for any legal path options, not just DACA, which is part of the reason the organization hired an immigration lawyer to assist in screenings.

“We have addressed the needs of community members whenever they come in and say, ‘We don’t know why we have to do this, if this is important, what is going to be the risk were putting my family in?,’

“We take additional steps in these clinics and whenever folks come into the office to ensure that we are doing a full analysis of the situation rather than just pushing a renewal.”

In addition to the $5,000 that Chapel Hill has agreed to give El Centro toward DACA renewals, Carrboro will give $10,000 and Durham $5,000. Vinas said that the $5,000 total from Chapel Hill was identified from the Housing and Community budget. Officials said they would continue looking for additional resources if all of the $5,000 is used.

Related Stories
‹
Half a Million Immigrants Could Eventually Get US Citizenship Under a New Plan From Biden
Written by SEUNG MIN KIM President Joe Biden is taking an expansive election year step to offer relief to potentially hundreds of thousands of immigrants without legal status in the U.S., aiming to balance his own aggressive crackdown on the southern border earlier this month that enraged advocates and many Democratic lawmakers. The White House announced Tuesday that […]
Revised ‘Dreamers’ Program To Get Another Review by Court
Written by KEVIN McGILL A federal appeals court Wednesday ordered a lower court review of Biden administration revisions to a program preventing the deportation of hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought into the United States as children. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said a federal district judge in Texas should take another look at the […]
Despite Headwinds, House Set To OK Dems’ Immigration Bills
Written by ALAN FRAM Democrats seem poised to claim victory in the House’s first votes this year on immigration, but moving legislation on the divisive issue all the way through Congress to President Joe Biden is an uphill fight. The House was set to vote Thursday on one bill giving over 2 million young “Dreamer” immigrants […]
Joe Biden To Propose 8-Year Citizenship Path for Immigrants
President-elect Joe Biden plans to unveil a sweeping immigration bill on Day One of his administration, hoping to provide an eight-year path to citizenship for an estimated 11 million people living in the U.S. without legal status, a massive reversal from the Trump administration’s harsh immigration policies. The legislation puts Biden on track to deliver on […]
Two 2020 UNC Alumni Named Rhodes Scholars
Peter Andringa and Sarah Mackenzie — who both graduated from UNC in 2020 — have been named Rhodes Scholars, bringing the total number of Rhodes Scholars from the university to 51. “A Tar Heel being named a Rhodes Scholar is always a reason to celebrate, and this year we have the special opportunity to recognize two […]
Young Immigrants Land Court Win but Still Face Uncertainty
The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld legal protections for young immigrants, but President Donald Trump could still take away the ability for hundreds of thousands of them to live and work legally in the United States. With no legislative answer in sight, that means the uncertainty of the last eight years isn’t over for many […]
Split Supreme Court Appears Ready to Allow Trump to End DACA
Sharply at odds with liberal justices, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority seemed ready Tuesday to allow the Trump administration to abolish protections that permit 660,000 immigrants to work in the U.S., free from the threat of deportation. That outcome would “destroy lives,” declared Justice Sonia Sotomayor, one the court’s liberals who repeatedly suggested the administration […]
Supreme Court to Decide on Trump Bid to End DACA
The Supreme Court will decide whether President Donald Trump can end an Obama-era program shielding young immigrants from deportation. The justices’ order Friday sets up high-stakes legal arguments in late fall or early winter, with a decision likely by June 2020 as Trump seeks re-election. Trump ordered an end to the program known as DACA […]
Chapel Hill Resident Wins Rhodes Scholarship
Ariel Kantor is one of only 32 Rhodes Scholars named nationwide in 2018.
Chapel Hill Joins Carrboro, Durham in Partnering with El Centro Hispano for DACA Renewal Fees
Chapel Hill entered into a performance agreement with El Centro Hispano to help pay for the DACA renewals in the town. The Chapel Hill Town Council on Wednesday night authorized the town manager to enter into a performance agreement with El Centro Hispano to assist in the DACA renewal fees for Chapel Hill residents. The […]
›