Immigration official to applicants for temporary status: 'Don't worry' - latimes

One of the nation’s top immigration officials is urging those who are newly eligible for temporary legal status to apply for the program without fear.

Speaking at a conference in Los Angeles on Monday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Leon Rodriguez said he knows that some immigrants in the country without permission may be wary of identifying themselves to the government as part of President Obama’s new program to defer deportations and grant three-year work permits to some immigrants with longtime ties to the U.S. 

“Don’t worry,” Rodriguez told them in Spanish. “Participate with confidence.”  Immigrant advocacy groups say some immigrants fear that applying under the program will increase their risk of deportation by making them more visible.

With more than 20 states mounting legal challenges to Obama’s program, and no guarantee that the next president will continue it, some are worried that they could be targeted by immigration agents for deportation now or in the future.

Speaking at the National Immigrant Integration Conference at the Los Angeles Convention Center, Rodriguez said applying for the program is the best way immigrants can protect themselves from deportation, saying those who are accepted for the deportation deferral programs will be “by definition not priorities for removal.”  Read More 

Immigrants get advice on eligibility for delayed-deportation programs