Each day, about 3,000 young undocumented immigrants are applying for deferred action, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano explained last week. As of October 10, that added up to almost 180,000 eligible youth who were applying for temporary deportation deferrals since the policy, which President Obama announced in June, went into effect on August 15, and Napolitano said the number of applications is up to 200,000.

So far, about 4,500 undocumented immigrants have completed the process and received temporary work permits thanks to Obama’s directive, and more than 150,000 have been scheduled for biometric interviews. But it is a long, slow process that can take up to four to six months. Here’s what the process looks like:

With about 950,000 people eligible to apply immediately, almost 19 percent of applications have been received and accepted for processing by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in the first two months of DACA. The last time that this many undocumented immigrants could apply for deportation deferrals was in 1986, when then-President Ronald Reagan authorized the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), a successful program that was able to legalize a large number of undocumented immigrants who were eligible in a short time period. Even with its success, only about 13 percent of potential IRCA applicants had filed their paperwork in the first three months of the program, fewer than the first two months’ worth of deferred action applications.

But if Mitt Romney is elected, the entire process for deferred action would stop. While the Republican presidential candidate has said he would not take away the temporary deportation deferrals from any undocumented immigrant who had already been approved, Romney said he would end the program to grant deportation deferrals to young undocumented immigrants who qualify. Some DREAMers say they are concerned about applying for a program that could disappear depending on who wins the presidential race on November 6.

With 950,000 potential applicants and a wait time for applications to be processed that can lasts for months — on top of the amount of time it takes for undocumented immigrants to gather the right documents and fill out the paperwork — it’s likely that tens of thousands of these young adults will still be in limbo by January when the next president is inaugurated. And if it’s Romney, it will be the end of a program that could give up to 1.7 million young undocumented immigrants temporary legal status while lawmakers continue to discuss a long-term immigration solution.

ThinkProgress blogger Adam Peck and Patrick Oakford, a research assistant at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, contributed to this report.

Two weeks before election day, the TV airways are abuzz not just with presidential and Congressional campaign messages, but also with ads focused on ballot initiatives, referenda, and state constitutional amendments. These often-overlooked plebiscite votes have a huge impact on public policy. Of the 174 questions on the ballot, here are nine of the most important:

1.Immigration (Maryland and Montana). Maryland voters will vote on Question 4, deciding whether a state DREAM Act, passed by the legislature, should go into law. Recent polling shows that 59 percent of state residents support the proposal, which would allow eligible undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition at state universities. Montanans will vote on LR-121, a proposal to deny state services to undocumented immigrants — including state permits, licenses, and services for crime victims.

2. Marriage equality (Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and Washington). Voters in Maryland (Question 6), Maine (Question 1), and Washington (Referendum 74) will vote on whether to enact marriage equality for same-sex couples. Polling in all three states indicate majority support for the measures. Minnesotans will consider a proposed marriage inequality amendment (Amendment 1). Polling there shows it is very close and, under state law, opponents of equality will need a majority of all voters who show up — even if they don’t vote on Amendment 1 — to amend the state constitution.

3. Marijuana (Arkansas, Colorado, Massachusetts, Montana, Oregon, and Washington). Colorado’s Amendment 64 and Washington’s Initiative 502 would legalize and regulate sales of small quantities of marijuana to residents 21 years and older. Both efforts are polling fairly well, though Oregon’s less-restrictive Measure 80 appears to be trailing. Arkansas (Issue 5) and Massachusetts (Question 3) will both consider proposals to allow medical marijuana and Montana (Initiative Referendum 124) will vote on whether to allow the state legislature to substitute its own medical marijuana law for one enacted by voters in 2004.
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Ever since President Obama announced a new deferred action policy in June, proving some undocumented immigration with a two-year deportation referral and permits, Mitt Romney has refused to say whether or not he would continue the program. Fellow Republicans and a campaign adviser have said Romney would undo the directive, though the GOP presidential candidate has repeatedly dodged the question.

But on the eve of his first debate with President Obama in Colorado, Romney said he would not take away temporary work permits from those who benefit from Obama’s deferred action plan, although it was unclear if he would continue to provide deportation deferrals:

Young illegal immigrants who receive temporary work permits to stay in the United States under an executive order issued by President Barack Obama would not be deported under a Mitt Romney administration, the GOP presidential hopeful told The Denver Post Monday.

“The people who have received the special visa that the president has put in place, which is a two-year visa, should expect that the visa would continue to be valid. I’m not going to take something that they’ve purchased,” Romney said. “Before those visas have expired we will have the full immigration reform plan that I’ve proposed.”

Following the announcement about the directive, Romney criticized Obama for going around Congress to implement the policy a few months before the election.

During the Republican primary, Romney had said he would veto legislation that provides a path to citizenship. He opposes the DREAM Act, which would add $329 billion to the U.S. economy by 2030, but said he would support a version of the bill to give legal status to undocumented immigrants who served in the military. And Romney has supported harmful “self-deportation” policies to force undocumented immigrants to leave the U.S. instead of “going to round people up.” To fix the U.S.’s immigration system, Romney continues to repeat that he wants to work with Congress on a comprehensive solution, but he gave The Denver Post no details about that plan.

Mitt Romney has never said whether he would undo President Obama’s immigration directive to offer deferred action to DREAM Act-eligible young adults, only saying that he will work with Congress “to put in place a long-term solution.” But Ted Cruz, the Republican Senate nominee in Texas, insisted that the GOP presidential candidate should end the policy:

Asked by Telemundo whether Romney should reinstate deportations of young people granted deferred action, Cruz said, “I do.”

“I think it is without authority, and we’re a nation of rule of law, and it is not defending anyone’s freedom to be undermining rule of law,” he said of President Obama’s June announcement that his administration would grant work authorizations and deferred action — reprieve from deportation concerns for two years — to some undocumented young people.

Cruz said the U.S. should be a country that celebrates legal immigration “who follow the rules” instead of supporting the deferred action policy. That’s not a surprising position from a GOP candidate who campaigned on the fact that once fought to ensure that the state would execute an undocumented immigrant.

In his Telemundo interview, Cruz added that he doesn’t “think the Hispanic community is behind efforts for amnesty.” But a poll from Latino Decisions shows that Latino voters are very supportive of Obama’s deportation directive as well as the DREAM Act.