US News

‘Bam’nesty boosts 454,000 immigrants

WASHINGTON — President Obama’s temporary-amnesty program has paid off for 454,000 young immigrants who were brought here illegally.

Under the “deferred action” initiative that took effect last summer, 26,000 New York residents were granted immunity from prosecution for at least two years, third-highest in the country.

California had the most residents who received waivers — 128,000 — followed by Texas, 73,000, according to new federal data obtained by The Post.

The overwhelming number of young illegals — 338,000 — hail from Mexico. Another 18,000 are natives of El Salvador, followed by Honduras, Guatemala, Peru, South Korea and Brazil. Figures are through March.

The 26,000 deferments approved in New York — long a hub for immigration — represent about a third of the 79,000 people thought to be eligible here.

The feds have reviewed 470,000 deferred-action applications, an initiative announced during Obama’s re-election campaign to help young people get documented after Congress failed to pass the Dream Act.

The program lets people under 31 who came to the United States when they were under 16 apply for a permit to avoid deportation. They will then get papers allowing them to work or get a driver’s license.

Those accepted can avoid deportation for two years and can apply to get their status renewed, though there is no guarantee how long the program will last.

In an unexpected development, applications soared in the early fall, but decreased dramatically since then. The feds got 117,000 applications in October, approving all but 3,700 of them. But there were only 17,000 applications in March, the lowest since the program began eight months ago.

“The fact that Congress is poised to pass immigration reform in 2013 has had an impact on people’s interest in applying for temporary relief,” said Jacqueline Esposito, of the New York Immigration Coalition.

The overall acceptance rate is 97 percent, and the feds aren’t regularly conducting in-person interviews, so for most applicants, getting approved isn’t the problem.

“One of the things we’ve heard consistently is that cost is a factor,” said Laura Vazquez, of the National Council of La Raza.

The fee is less than $400, plus identification and other costs.

Meanwhile Mayor Bloomberg yesterday commented on the U.S. hitting the cap of H-IB visas for high tech workers, saying it “represents yet another missed opportunity to attract the world’s best and brightest to our shores.”