Following the recent initiation of the deferred action program by the Obama administration, the number of transcript requests for the Yakima School District and other areas with large numbers of immigrant children has increased dramatically – causing excessive work for schools.
The deferred action program allows illegal immigrants aged 30 and under to stay in the U.S. without the risk of deportation for two years, providing they can meet certain criteria. Applications began to be accepted in mid June, the criteria includes having lived in the U.S. before aged 16, successful graduation from high school, serving in the military or enrolling in college, keeping a clean criminal record and having lived in the U.S. since 2007. The program has already seen over 80,000 applications.
Of course, to prove these obligations have been met, many applicants have contacted their schools and colleges to gain access to their transcripts as means of proof. In the case of the Yakima School District, who are used to receiving very few transcript requests, an estimated 800 requests have been made for either transcripts or other relevant information since the beginning of the school year. This is causing excessive work for such schools, mainly in areas with high populations of young immigrants.
With such an increase of work, the number of officials required to assist the registration offices in the Yakima District has dramatically increased and therefore so have costs. The extra work is estimated to have cost the district an $8000.00 so far, with more transcript requests being received each day. This work load is likely to be the same in districts with similar immigrant populations, therefore the costs will most likely be imposed also.