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1 1 (January 31, 2022)

handle is hein.crs/govefet0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional SResearch Service Legal Dreamers January 31, 2022 The term Dreamers is often used to refer to foreign nationals who were brought to the United States as children and lack lawful immigration status. This population has garnered much public and congressional attention. There is broad-based but uneven public support for providing these individuals with lawful permanent resident (LPR) status. After Congress repeatedly considered but did not pass legislation to provide Dreamers with a means to adjust to permanent status, the Obama Administration established Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in 2012. DACA enables its beneficiaries-unauthorized immigrants who first entered the United States before June 15, 2017, and before reaching age 16, and also meet other requirements-to live in the United States on a temporary, renewable basis. DACA recipients receive protection from removal and may receive work authorization. They are not granted or put on a pathway to be granted LPR status. Since DACA was implemented, and despite multiple bipartisan efforts, Congress has not passed legislation to provide Dreamers with a pathway to adjust to LPR status. More recently, attention to Dreamers has expanded to encompass a different population also at risk of being removed from the United States, often after spending much of their childhood in the United States. These individuals, commonly referred to as legal Dreamers or documented Dreamers, are children of nonimmigrant (i.e., temporary) workers who face the prospect of aging out of lawful status or may have already done so. The legal Dreamer population stems from the growth of the employment-based (EB) queue, or backlog. This queue consists mainly of lawful U.S. temporary residents (i.e., nonimmigrants) whose petitions for lawful permanent status have been approved but who must wait for a numerically limited green card. Because of annual numerical limits and a 7% per-country ceiling, many such prospective immigrants-particularly from major migrant-sending countries such as India and China- must wait decades to receive LPR status. Waiting alongside them are any minor children who were included on their parents' immigration petitions, accompanied them to the United States, and consequently grew up in the United States. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), the temporary legal status of such children ends when they reach age 21. Then, they face limited options. They can try to change to another nonimmigrant status-such as a student or temporary worker-providing them additional time in lawful status but not permanent legal status. Or, they can independently try to adjust to LPR status, typically through the INA's family-based or employment-based provisions, which, if approved, often results in years of additional waiting time. Alternatively, they face the prospect of choosing between leaving the United States and Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov IN11844 CRS INSIGHT Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress

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