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PHOTOS: DREAM-er applicants line up to file for legal status
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Illegal immigrant Mayra Chavarria holds her high school diploma while waiting outside the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights in Los Angeles offices Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2012. Hundreds of thousands of young illegal immigrants scrambled to get papers in order, as the U.S. started accepting applications to allow them to avoid deportation and get a work permit, but not a path to citizenship. President Barack Obama announced the program in June after pressure from Hispanic voters and others who said he hasn't fulfilled a campaign promise to overhaul tangled U.S. immigration laws.