WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration has approved more 4,500 young illegal immigrants for a program to let them stay in the United States and get a work permit.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services says about 180,000 people have applied for the administration's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program announced this summer. As of Wednesday, 4,591 applications had been approved. Those people will also get permission to work.
To date, no applications have been rejected.
The government started accepting applications on Aug. 15 and it had been expected that final decisions could take several months. Homeland Security officials have say the time to approve applications is expected to slow in coming months.
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