Departments of State, Homeland Security Launch Executive Action on Immigration: Know the Facts Awareness Campaign

WASHINGTON—The Department of Homeland Security and Department of State have launched the next stage of an aggressive campaign to make clear the national security, border security, and public safety priorities that are now in effect, and to clarify the criteria for filing requests for deferred action under the Executive Actions recently announced by President Obama.

The next phase of the campaign is the launch of “Executive Action on Immigration: Know the Facts” awareness campaign, a national and international outreach effort detailing the eligibility requirements for requesting deferred action under the President’s announcement. The campaign, aimed at the Mexican and Central American public, explains how “Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents” (DAPA) will be implemented and who is eligible in an effort to dispel potential misinformation.

The campaign, in collaboration with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), will:

• inform undocumented immigrants in the United States and the Mexican and Central American public about DAPA  and to whom it applies;
• dissuade family members living in the United States from supporting illegal migration of family members, including by emphasizing that persons currently in the United States who help family members illegally enter the country will be barred from DAPA;
• dissuade members of the Mexican and Central American public from illegally migrating to the United States in the hope of taking advantage of executive actions that do not apply to them, including by reminding them that migrants apprehended at the border or ports of entry while attempting to unlawfully enter the United States fall into our highest enforcement and removal priority.

The campaign includes:

• Running radio and TV public service announcements in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and U.S. metropolitan areas with high concentrations of Mexicans and Central Americans, such as Houston, Los Angeles, the District of Columbia, New York and Miami;
• Placing print products in English and Spanish language outlets in those countries;
• Engaging English and Spanish language media within the United States, Mexico and Central America;
• Providing more information on executive action eligibility on CBP’s and USCIS’ websites; and
• Updating CBP’s Information Call Center help lines with the latest information in Spanish and English.

A social media campaign is also being planned.

On November 20, 2014, President Obama announced the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA), which will allow individuals to apply for temporary relief from deportation if they arrived in the United States before January 1, 2010 and are parents of children who are U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents. It does not apply to recent undocumented immigrants or those thinking of migrating to the United States. Persons who assist family members in illegally entering the United States will not be eligible for the DAPA program. Indeed, the broader executive actions announced by the President include prioritizing the repatriation of recent border crossers and any person who tries to cross the border without proper documentation.

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