Asians, many out of shame, not seeking deportation protection

South Korean-born Hyun Kim feels American to his bones, but the undocumented immigrant has failed to seek protection from deportation under a program launched by President Barack Obama to shield young people brought to the United States as children.

The 20-year-old Kim, who dreams of attending a US college and works as a barista in the Virginia town where he grew up, is like many of the more than 100,000 Asian immigrants who are eligible for Obama's program but have not applied. Many cite shame over their unauthorized status as well as trouble locating documents as reasons they are not applying.

"I'm doing nothing with my life, just working these small-time jobs," said Kim, who believes he is eligible but has been delayed by difficulties obtaining the required paperwork. "All I do when I go home is sleep and pay rent."

The program, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which was started four years ago, grants temporary legal status and the right to work to immigrants who entered the country before turning 16 and before mid-2007. For many individuals, it makes it easier to attend college. It does not, however, provide a path to citizenship.

Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has stirred the immigration debate, vowing to build a wall on the US border with Mexico and deport an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants if he is elected.

A broader effort by the Obama administration to shield from deportation 4 million unauthorized immigrants who are the parents of US citizens and lawful residents was blocked by a federal judge last year. The US Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision on the administration's appeal by the end of June.

The DACA program has resonated in the Hispanic communities that make up the majority of the nearly 730,000 undocumented immigrants in the United States who have obtained protection from deportation under the program.

The same cannot be said of Asian communities.

While an estimated 80 percent of eligible Mexicans and Central Americans have applied for DACA, according to the nonprofit Asian-Americans Advancing Justice less than 20 percent of Asians have sought protection.

Backers of Obama's initiative say the failure to reach eligible Asians highlights the limits of the program, which they say is seen by some immigrants as a partial victory because it provides protection for only a two-year term that they must renew.

In all, hundreds of thousands of young immigrants are thought to be eligible for the program but have not applied, according to the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute.

Kim said his parents brought him to the United States as a 2-year-old and that he has kept his illegal status a secret from all but his close friends. When asked why he's not in college, laziness is the lie he tells, rather than revealing that he burns to study to become an information technology specialist.

The longtime Annandale, Virginia, resident first heard about DACA from a roommate more than two years after the program was launched.