DACA renewal fees will be covered for everyone in Rhode Island

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is set to end in a few months, but DACA recipients living in Rhode Island just got some good news: Gov. Gina Raimondo announced Monday that she has helped secure more than $170,000 in private donations to help cover the renewal fees for all eligible recipients.

“A couple of weeks ago, when the Trump administration announced its plan to end the DACA program, we gathered in Central Falls and pledged to do everything in our power to stand up for Rhode Island’s Dreamers,” Raimondo, who is a Democrat, said in a statement. “Now is the time to fight for our values and take action against hatred and bigotry.”

Though the DACA program doesn’t technically end until March, eligible DACA recipients must apply by Oct. 5 if they want to renew their status. But a renewal, which lasts for two years, costs $495 — and Raimondo was inspired to act after meeting with several DACA recipients who told her that they just didn’t have that kind of cash handy, Raimondo’s press secretary David Ortiz told VICE News.

“One of the stories that has come up over and over and over is that those Dreamers who are eligible to reapply for renewal are going to have a really hard time coming up with the $500,” Ortiz said. “A lot of them are low-income students. So the governor made that a priority, to take the barrier to renewal away.”

No state money was used to fund the initiative, and the Rhode Island Foundation will handle doling out the donations to community agencies that are helping DACA recipients. Meanwhile, another group of advocacy organizations will help connect eligible recipients to pro-bono legal aid and assistance filling out renewal applications.

More than 1,200 DACA recipients live in Rhode Island, according to a statement from Raimondo’s office, and Ortiz says the initiative used federal data to estimate that about 250 to 350 of those recipients are eligible to apply for renewal. Because Rhode Island is the smallest state in the nation, Ortiz added, it’s easier to reach every DACA recipient than it would be in a larger state.

“They are members of our community,” Ortiz said of DACA recipients. “They go to our schools. They work. They contribute to our economy. We see them in church. They’re Americans in all ways, except on paper.”