Are you or is someone in your immediate family a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) participant? Do you know of graduate students in your department or your MSU community who are participating in the DACA program? Recent changes to this program have caused a huge and unanticipated financial burden to DACA participants. I’m emailing today to let those of you who are grad students at MSU and eligible for renewal know that there are resources available to help you recover the cost of legal consultations and DACA renewal fees. Maybe you’ve paid for these items and are now struggling to cover your other expenses, or maybe you’ve been unable to renew due to the cost. The following channels may help you:
- If you are a GEU member and need IMMEDIATE SUPPORT TODAY to afford your (or your immediate family member’s) DACA renewal, please apply for the solidarity grant by following this link. We are watching these applications closely, and are prepared to process these requests quickly.
- If you are a GEU member and have already paid for your DACA renewal but are now experiencing additional unexpected financial hardship, the solidarity grant program is also designed to help you. You can learn more about the program (and apply) by following this link.
- If you are a graduate student at MSU, the graduate school also has emergency fellowship funding available for students experiencing unexpected financial hardship, which you can apply for by following this link.
If you are not a DACA participant and are confused about the details of this current situation, a helpful article outlining the urgency of the problem is here: “The Trump administration didn’t notify immigrants about an abrupt deadline to renew DACA” From the article: “As of Wednesday, on the eve of the deadline, US Citizenship and Immigration Services reported to a third party that 111,565 of the approximately 154,000 who were eligible to apply for one last extension of their protections had done so.” This means over 40,000 applications for renewal have not yet been sent in.
We can’t change the actions the federal government has taken in this area, but we can help to offset the financial burden these actions have imposed. If you have any questions about any of the above items, please email: president@geuatmsu.org