In 2012, President Obama came up with DACA, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program for immigrants who entered in the United States as minors and reprieved their deportation. Obama administration is planning to extend this DACA program and want to extend protection to family members of DACA-eligible immigrants, or even undocumented parents of U.S. citizens.
However, some immigrant advocates worry about Obama administration’s stand for undocumented immigrants who fall under LGBT community.
It id hard for LGBT people to come up with their family documents as they are most likely forsaken by their family members or find hard to find formal family ties.
Aaron Morris, legal director for Immigration Equality, an organization that provides legal assistance to LGBT immigrants, said that LGBT people didn’t have access to marriage equality for so long and in some cases, still don’t have that. For families, it can be really complicated to have a formally recognized document that proves you are a child’s mother or a spouse of an individual.
It is believed that there are an estimated 267,000 LGBT undocumented immigrants living in United States currently.
Dozens of immigrant groups sent a letter to White House in August to prod the administration to expand their deportation plans beyond just those with formal family ties.