Danilo Lopez, an undocumented farm worker who has lived in Vermont for more than five years, was granted a one-year stay of removal Tuesday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Lopez, on the website of the organization Migrant Justice, credited supporters for helping to win a favorable decision.
“And remember the lesson, the first time we asked permission for prosecutorial discretion through ICE’s process and we lost,” Lopez said in a statement. “But now, after a big public campaign, constant pressure, and powerful community organizing — DEMANDING to stop the deportation — we won. Now, we see how we can change the world we live in.”
Lopez, 23, was a passenger in a car pulled over for a traffic violation in 2011. A Vermont State Trooper handed Lopez over to the U.S. Border Patrol when he couldn’t produce legal documentation.
An ICE official this month suggested that Lopez apply for a stay of removal, which he did last week, but he also shot a bit higher, submitting a second application for deferred action. Both are forms of prosecutorial discretion.
Neither avenue grants him legal status, but for Lopez, the gray area of deferred action is more desirable, according to Natalia Fajardo, a spokeswoman for Migrant Justice. That’s because it would allow him to apply for a work permit, and it would give him the option of visiting Mexico. Lopez, who hasn’t been to his home country in seven years, said his mother is sick, and while it’s important for him to stay in the United States for financial reasons, he wants the chance to visit her.
According to Fajardo, deferred action is granted less frequently than stay of removals. ICE doesn’t have a deadline to respond to Lopez’s request for deferred action.
