Activists file lawsuit challenging Trump immigration changes
FALLS CHURCH, Va. — Nurimaro Park, 26, is one of about 800,000 people who had benefited from an Obama-era program that extended protections to immigrants brought illegally to the U.S. as children.
While he knew the significance of the protection he received under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, he had one problem: he didn’t have the money to pay the $495 registration fee required to renew his participation in the program for two more years.
Park worked as a private tutor, and money was tight in the late spring and summer months when school was out. He figured he could re-enrol at the end of the year — the rules of the program allowed people to renew lapsed registrations as long as a full year hadn’t passed.
In September, though, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the Trump administration is phasing out the program. Those who were enrolled in the program would be eligible to file for one last two-year extension if their registration was close to expiring.