Rhode Island Will Pay For Renewal Fees of State's DACA Recipients

By Eleanor Sheehan  |  September 18, 2017 | 11:38pm
Immigration

Rhode Island’s Democratic Governor Gina Raimondo announced on Monday that a coalition of donors would pay for DACA recipients in the state to renew their applications. In a series of tweets introducing the state’s plan, Gina Raimondo wrote that donors raised $170,000 to cover the costs of roughly 350 people who are eligible to renew their status.

President Trump’s decision to end DACA, as announced by his obsequious minion Attorney General Jeff Sessions, prompted Raimondo’s resolve to protect her state’s DACA recipients and alleviate the compounded anxiety of paying for a renewal fee amidst an uncertain future.

Pending a senate intervention, which seems presently precarious, Trump set a deadline of Oct. 5, 2017, for DACA recipients whose permits expire before March 5, 2018, to apply for renewal. Renewal fees cost $495.

“As if it weren’t stressful enough to have the rug pulled out from under you, you basically have a couple of weeks to get renewed. And you have to come up with $500,” Raimondo said at a press conference on Monday.

Similar efforts to fund DACA recipients’ renewal fees emerged across the country following Trump’s decision to rescind the program. A San Francisco-based nonprofit, Mission Asset Fund, announced a $1 million fund to cover renewal fees of more than 2,000 DACA recipients just last week.

Below is Raimondo’s full announcement:

 
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