GENEVA, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- A group of UN human rights experts on Tuesday called on the United States to urgently address the situation of hundreds of thousands of migrants who arrived in the country as children and now face possible expulsion.
On March 5, the deadline will come for the expiration of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
The program grants work permits and renewable two-year deferments from deportation to qualifying migrants who arrived as children under 16, are pursuing or have completed a high school education or military service, and have not committed a serious crime.
"We are increasingly concerned about the impact that ending the DACA program could have on the young people who benefit from it," the UN experts said in a joint statement.
"If a solution is not reached by the beginning of March, DACA beneficiaries will be stripped of their legal status and their protection from deportation without procedural safeguards," they added.
The experts urged the U.S. authorities to adopt measures to address this situation as a matter of urgency.
"An abrupt end to the DACA program will disrupt the lives of these migrants and cause profound grief and irreparable harm by tearing their families apart and making them vulnerable to exploitation and abuse if deported to countries where they barely have any ties," they emphasized.
The experts said the U.S. should act now to ensure the human rights of the estimated 800,000 people who have benefited from the program, rather than imperil them.
DACA beneficiaries are often referred to as "Dreamers", more than three quarters of them arrived from Mexico while the rest are mainly from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
The majority of Dreamers are ages 25 or below, and many are current students.
