In a recent ruling, federal Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis ordered to restore Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), thereby affecting the nearly 200 undocumented students at Cal Poly.
The Dec. 4 ruling ordered that both first-time DACA applications and renewal application requests be accepted.
This decision followed more than three years of instability for the DACA program.
The DACA program was created in 2012 to grant relief from deportations, social security and employment status to more than 650,000 undocumented immigrants in the country, according to Cal Poly Dream Center Coordinator Vania Agama Ramirez.
In Sept. 2017, the DACA program was rescinded by the acting Secretary of Homeland Security. In June 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that the removal of DACA in 2017 was in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.
The Cal Poly Dream Center is currently working with attorneys from the California State University (CSU) system to provide information to students about their options at this time, according to Ramirez.
The Dream Center is encouraging students to reach out to attorneys if they think they may be eligible for DACA under these new considerations, Ramirez said.
“We want [undocumented students] to know that they belong on our campus and in our community,” Cal Poly spokesperson Matt Lazier wrote in an email.