governmental and community-based organizations (NGOs and CBOs) and their public and private partners to build capacity and to prepare to implement a large legalization program. Over a three-month period, the CMS team interviewed more than 40 agencies and 66 individuals, and intensively analyzed the work of five communities on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, expanded DACA (known as DACA-plus), and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA). The study assessed the progress of the NGO/ CBO community in building capacity to promote maximum participation in DACA, to enlist DACA beneficiaries in service, advocacy and community organizing work, and to prepare for a future large-scale legalization program. The study covers the period from DACA's inception in 2012 to the eve of the presidential election.The prospects for any kind of legalization in the short term have darkened with the election of Donald J. Trump, and the prospects for widespread and potentially draconian enforcement actions have heightened. Although this project was commissioned, conceived, and executed with a legalization program in mind, its findings on the capacity of the immigrant-serving sector remain timely and relevant. This report presents a narrative of how the sector developed over the past four years and assesses its capabilities. As such, it presents a valuable catalogue of assets as the sector considers how it will respond to the challenges ahead. Building greater capacity to serve immigrant communities has become an even more urgent task since the presidential election. Recommendations formulated for a potential legalization program can serve as a starting point for the development of strategies to contend with the Trump administration's immigration and refugee policies.
FindingsWorking within the existing statutory and administrative frameworks of federal policy, the immigrant-serving sector has achieved steady and significant gains in legal status for large numbers of immigrants over the past four years. These gains, which have been the result of an ongoing, intentional process of growth and professionalization in the immigrant-serving sector, have constituted a de facto legalization program. While most communities across the country lack sufficient capacity even to meet existing needs, substantial and varied capacity has been built over the last four years and well-tested models are available to expand capacity if the resources become available.
CMS Report February 2017
2Strengthening and expanding existing capacities in the immigrant-serving sector would be: 1) the most efficient preparation for a large-scale legalization program; 2) an effective antidote to the ravages of draconian enforcement policies; and 3) an important step in promoting the full participation and integration of immigrants in our nation's life.When the DACA program was launched on June 15, 2012, many participants in the immigrantserving sector rose to the challenge by redirecting staff, physical assets,...