On July 19th, Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, made her first appearance before Congress since the June 15 memorandum on deferred action policies for qualified DREAMers. (Please see Stern & Curray LLC blog post of Wednesday, June 2012 for more information on the specifics of the program). In her testimony before the House Judiciary Committee Napolitano explained that the department hopes to finalize guidelines for the process by August 1st and stated that DHS officially will begin accepting deferred action applications from undocumented youth on August 15th. A fee charged for the deferred action application would ensure the process does not pose an extra burden on taxpayers, Napolitano said. However, the amount of the fee is still unknown. Also unknown is what form an applicant for deferred action will be required to use. For Secretary Nepolitano’s full testimony, please visit http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/Hearings%202012/Napolitano%2007192012.pdf
