Republican Governor Allows DREAMers to Become Teachers, While His State Sues Obama Over Immigration
Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) signed a state bill this week allowing some undocumented immigrants with temporary work authorization to receive teaching licenses. The bill is part of Sandoval’s plan for a “new Nevada,” the Associated Press reported.
Uriel Garcia, a 22-year-old undocumented Nevada State College student, would benefit from the bill, which allow immigrants granted temporary legal presence under president’s 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to pursue teaching licenses. Garcia has been “waiting for a couple of years now” to pursue a career as an elementary school special education teacher.
“I need this bill to student-teach,” Garcia told ThinkProgress on Thursday. He explained that he had to stop his college education because he couldn’t fulfill his practicum at Nevada State College, which requires that he get a student teaching license. He expects to begin student teaching in 2016, then to receive his full teaching license by the spring 2017 semester.
More: Republican Governor Allows DREAMers to Become Teachers, While His State Sues Obama Over Immigration
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals - Wiki
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is an American immigration policy which allows certain undocumented immigrants who entered the country before their 16th birthday and before June 2007 to receive a renewable two-year work permit and exemption from deportation. It does not confer legal immigration status or provide a path to citizenship. It was started by the Obama administration in June 2012.
At the program’s start, the Pew Research Center estimated that up to 1.7 million people might be eligible.[1] As of June 2014, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has granted DACA status to about 581,000 individuals and denied to about 24,000.[2]
In November 2014, U.S. President Barack Obama announced changes to DACA which would expand it to include illegal immigrants who entered the country before 2010, eliminate the requirement that applicants be younger than 31 years old, and lengthen the renewable deferral period to three years. The Pew Research Center estimated that this would increase the number of eligible people by about 330,000.[3]