Renewal delays leave DACA recipients jobless and fearing deportation

An immigration attorney near San Diego was fired and a nurse in the East Bay area was placed on unpaid leave after her work permits expired.

Both depend on work permits and legal protections provided under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a program that President Obama created in 2012 for immigrants brought to the United States as children. But delays in final processing at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services leave many DACA recipients at risk of arrest and deportation when their two-year work permits expire.

“This is absolutely an attack on the program,” said attorney Maria Fernanda Madrigal. “My first thought was, ‘Oh, they’re so smart. They couldn’t kill the program through litigation, so this is what they’re doing.'”

Average processing times for DACA renewals over the past few years less than two months left. Most cases are now completed in 3.5 months. According to Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The agency did not say what caused the processing delays. “Under President Trump’s leadership, USCIS is protecting the American people by more thoroughly screening and vetting all aliens,” spokesman Zach Kahler wrote in a statement.

He said DACA does not provide any legal status in this country.

Trump tried to repeal DACA during his first term in office but failed.

This time his rule simply undermined its benefits.

Last year, Department of Homeland Security officials began urging DACA recipients to deport themselves. Department of Health and Human Services made DACA recipients Not eligible for health insurance Through Obamacare.

And last month, a precedent-setting decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals will apply to immigration judges across the country: Having DACA is not enough protecting someone from deportation.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said ICE arrested 650 DACA recipients between Jan. 20, 2025, and April 30, and about 90% of them were charged with or convicted of a crime. The spokesman did not say how many people were deported.

But in a February letter Then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told US senators that the agency deported 86 DACA recipients between January 1 and November 19, 2025. Federal judges ordered the agency to extradite some of them, including Maria de Jesus Estrada Juarez, a Sacramento mother who was deported a day after her green card interview.

Lawmakers are voicing alarm that DACA’s promise of protection is being undermined.

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee last month organized a forum About the Trump administration’s “all-out attack on DACA.” At the forum, Santa Ana Police Chief Robert Rodriguez stated that he had to fire a police officer because his work permit renewal was not completed on time.

Last week, House members from California’s Central Valley, including Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford), sent a letter We call on Homeland Security and Citizenship and Immigration Services leaders to expedite DACA processing.

“Our offices have seen a significant increase in constituent cases involving pending renewals, with many remaining unresolved for more than six months,” the letter continued. “These extended processing times create avoidable challenges for our communities and our economy.”

California has more than a quarter of the nation’s nearly 500,000 DACA recipients, according to Citizenship and Immigration Services figures. On average they are 31 years old.

To qualify for DACA, applicants had to pass background checks and meet certain educational or employment requirements.

In a press conference before the DACA forum last month, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) reflected on the day in June 2012 when DACA applications first opened. He said parents of young immigrants ask whether it is safe for their children to enroll in the program, which requires accepting their lack of legal status and home address.

“Are you sure the government won’t use this information against us after some time?” He remembered what he said. “I said, ‘Implement the law as it is written and declared in the Decree Law, and we will be with you. As long as you believe us that we will do it.'”

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), foreground, speaks at a Homeland Security oversight hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in March.

(J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press)

“I didn’t anticipate the current president and what he’s doing right now,” Durbin continued.

Sarah Krieger, a former Citizenship and Immigration Services official who is now senior policy counsel at the National Immigration Law Center, said the processing delays were due in part to the agency temporarily pausing an automated system for processing DACA and other applications.

About a month after Trump took office last year, “streamlined case processing” was shut down to check whether each process had adequate security controls, Krieger said. The automated system was turned back on a few months later but was modified to include more manual security checks. Krieger left the agency last July.

He said shutting down the automated system was “a deliberate choice that does not enhance national security.” “All this does is slow things down.”

Citizenship and Immigration Services recommends applicants submit paperwork and pay the $555 fee 120 to 150 days before their benefits expire.

Among those doing this are two nurses who work for Kaiser Permanente in the Bay Area. Both requested anonymity due to concerns about their immigration status.

One of the nurses, who came to the United States from the Philippines when she was a baby, said she applied for a renewal on Dec. 1. His work permit expired on April 15.

Kaiser placed him on 30-day unpaid leave, after which he would be fired. His work permit was eventually renewed, but only after Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and two other members of Congress lobbied the federal government on his behalf.

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) speaks at a news conference about the DACA program outside the U.S. Capitol on May 12.

(Graeme Sloan/Getty Images)

Padilla said his office has fielded requests from hundreds of DACA recipients this year.

Another Kaiser nurse who filed renewal paperwork in December is still pending. He has been on unpaid leave for about a month.

The nurse, who is from South America, said a Citizenship and Immigration Services officer told her the renewal process could take up to 10 months.

The nurse is pregnant and she and her husband have bought a new house. Losing your job will also mean losing your health and maternity leave benefits.

“I spent years caring for other people in my community, paying taxes, contributing to the healthcare system,” he said. “I have overcome COVID and it is heartbreaking to feel so easily cast aside.”

Another DACA recipient, Elsa Sanchez, 35, of Georgia, has maintained DACA status since 2012 and says she has always followed the advice to submit her renewal application at least 120 days before the expiration date.

The last three renewals were approved within a week or two, he said. This time, the work permit and DACA expired on April 1, more than four months after applying.

Elsa Sanchez, whose work permit has expired due to DACA renewal delays, is at her home in Atlanta.

(Emilie Megnien / Associated Press)

The health IT company where Sanchez worked as a senior customer success manager allowed him to take a 60-day unpaid leave but then told him he would have to terminate his employment.

Sanchez’s unpaid leave was scheduled to end on June 1. On May 20, he finally received word that his DACA renewal had been approved. But Sanchez, by then a single mother, had to withdraw money from her college savings account for her 19-year-old daughter, who was attending a local college. He spent the money on rent and food, about $2,000.

“I feel so relieved and grateful,” he said in an Instagram video announcing the news. “I know many of us are still impacted by these delays. I wish I could share my confirmation with all of you and that we could all be celebrating today.”

Others have taken to social media to share their experiences and exchange resources. Fired lawyer Madrigal turned to making daily videos. On Tuesday, he shared “35th day of unemployment.”

“Some days seem like big emotions and uncertainty,” he wrote. “Other days involve walks, toddler activities, cooking dinner, and ending the night with tostadas. I try to find joy and normalcy in the midst of it all.”