Single mothers lost months of income hiding from ICE — and now can’t afford to renew immigration papers

Single mothers in Minneapolis who spent months hiding indoors during immigration raids now can't afford to renew the paperwork that lets them work legally, The 19th reports. During ICE's Operation Metro Surge, which the outlet says claimed the lives of two American citizens and saw hundreds of people with no criminal background detained, families stayed home and lost income for months. Renewing a DACA work permit — the program that shields people brought to the country as children from deportation — costs five hundred fifty-five dollars in filing fees alone, and closer to thirteen hundred dollars with an attorney, with almost no way to have those fees waived. One mutual aid organizer told The 19th that roughly fifty-two people have asked her for help covering the cost, nearly all of them single mothers; the city estimates immigrant workers with limited English proficiency lost one hundred fifty-two million dollars in wages between December and March, and renewal applications that once took weeks are now running as long as eight months.

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