Campaign Action
While the future of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program could rest in the hands of one judge in Texas, the program as is still stands, and advocates have been urging program beneficiaries to renew their protections as soon as possible. Thanks to a new move from crowdfunding site GoFundMe, it’ll become a lot easier.
The site has partnered up with FWD.us to create a hub “for verified crowdfunding campaigns from DACA recipients,” The Daily Dot reports, “where DACA recipients can quickly start a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds for their renewal fee. The DACA hub is also being featured on the site’s homepage,” and donors can also choose to instead contribute to a “Direct Impact Fund,” which spreads money out over existing campaigns.
”Under the partnership, GoFundMe has also created a set of guidelines for campaign creators, such as how to go about setting up and promoting their donation page.” The hub will be particularly helpful for immigrants who may have fallen out of status and who, not being able to work legally, are struggling to pay for their $495 renewal fee while also supporting their families or other responsibilities.
One DACA beneficiary, Kenia Ceron, told The Daily Dot that the platform helped her raise enough funding to cover the fees for herself and her siblings. When she reached her goal, she decided to keep the campaign open to raise more for other young immigrants—she ended up raising enough to cover fees for nine other people.
The move follows other fundraising efforts, like United We Dream’s “DACA Renewal Fund,” which seeks to make sure as many eligible youth as possible are covered. Of course, immigrant youth shouldn’t have to live their lives from court hearing to court hearing, but in the absence of Congressional act, DACA’s protections are essential. “We hope that Dreamers who need financial assistance will use this great resource from GoFundMe and that those who are able, contribute to their campaigns,” said FWD’s Peter Boogaard.