WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Thursday, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) ruled in Matter of Delcarmen-Lara that travel on Advance Parole counts as a departure that triggers the 3 and 10-year reentry bar, overturning 14 years of settled precedent. Todd Schulte, President of FWD.us, released the following statement:
“This flawed decision by the BIA will impose harsh inadmissibility bars on DACA recipients who re-enter the country after lawfully using Advance Parole. We’ve seen this pattern of delays, denials, detentions, and deportations designed to punish DACA recipients, and make the policy unworkable while avoiding the headlines that would come with announcing its termination. This is clearly an unnecessary, and cruel step in that same wrong direction.
“Advance Parole has allowed tens of thousands of people to travel with the government’s explicit permission, whether to sit with a dying parent our broken immigration system kept them from for years, to see a country they haven’t been to since they were children, or participate in training or business travel for their employer. Now, this flawed decision will punish DACA recipients, among other individuals, by restricting their ability to travel. This decision does nothing to make our country safer or more prosperous, it is just another step by this administration to demonize and demean DACA recipients.
“This continued effort to dismantle DACA is hurting our country, and FWD.us urges Congress to pass the bipartisan Dream and Promise Act and deliver the certainty that DACA recipients, their families, and their employers need. Any future administration also must work expeditiously to reverse this decision and return to the policy that has been in place for more than a decade.”
Additional FWD.us Resources: