A U.S. Postal Service employee faces jail time after allegedly throwing out critical immigration documents.
Diana Molyneux is being prosecuted in a federal court in Utah for discarding or delaying mail at a Salt Lake City post office. Those mail pieces went missing starting in 2017. And the consequences were dire for the expected recipients, affecting people in Nevada who were waiting on green cards and other important immigration documents.
The Nevada Independent, which , found that some lost jobs, others paid up to $1000 to get new applications. Some individuals who had applied to become part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program also lost paperwork or applications, leaving these DREAMers in legal limbo. That DACA program could help them get jobs and pauses their undocumented legal status.
Timing was critical because in late 2017, new applications were halted by the Trump administration.
Malou Ch谩vez is deputy director for the Northwest Immigrants Rights Project. She says if applicants didn鈥檛 meet that critical 2017 deadline, they鈥檙e likely still waiting. That鈥檚 even after a recent U.S. win for the DACA program because she said that only granted renewals, not new applications.
鈥淭hose are the people now who are hurting the most,鈥� she said.
She cautioned those who were unable to get DACA status, and even those who were, to seek legal advice from attorneys who know immigration law to seek more permanent solutions.
Employees found guilty of stealing, opening or destroying mail face up to a $2,000 fine and/or up to five years in prison.
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