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Share via E-mailA federal program that protects more than 600,000 young immigrants from deportation faces an uncertain future.
The program is called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or “DACA.”
Former President Barack Obama created the program through executive action back in 2012, providing a way for immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children, but who don’t have legal authorization to be in the U.S., to live and work here under certain conditions.
Since Obama left office, Republican lawmakers at the state and federal level have tried to shut the program down — and it’s possible those efforts could soon succeed.
President Trump attempted to end the program in 2018, but two years later, the U.S. Supreme Court restored DACA temporarily.
But last month, a federal appeals court issued a ruling that put DACA’s future in doubt once again. The case — filed by several GOP-led states — is now in the hands of a federal judge in Texas who ruled against DACA in the past.
The Biden Administration recently updated a series of regulations that govern the DACA program. That federal judge in Texas, Andrew Hanen, is now deciding whether Biden’s updates to the program’s rules are enough to keep the program intact.
“From the very beginning, DACA has been under Republican attack, and we have seen that play out by DACA being involved in court case after court case,” said Karen Fierro Ruiz of United We Dream, an organization that advocates for a pathway to citizenship for immigrant youth. “A lot of people are very much tired of being in this political limbo of not knowing what the future of the DACA program is.”
To qualify for DACA, applicants must demonstrate they arrived in the U.S. by age 16, have lived here since June 2007, studied in a U.S. school or served in the military, and lacked a criminal record.
“DACA means the government is saying, ‘We are not gonna deport you [right now] … That does not mean we won’t deport you in the future,’” said attorney Vanessa Manzi Pumar, one of the first DACA recipients to be admitted to the California bar. “DACA recipients are allowed to obtain a work permit for two years and every two years they have to renew their work permit. This is called temporary immigration status and can be taken away at any point.”
America Castillo, a student at California State University Northridge (CSUN), said receiving DACA status for the first time was a relief.
“Not having DACA for the first 17 years of my life, I was very anxious about how I would work,” Castillo said. “There’s nothing wrong with working with janitorial jobs but I always wanted something more. When I did get DACA, I loved that I was able to get a job I wanted to work at.”
Karla Molina Susunaga also felt a weight lift from her shoulders after she became “DACAmented” — a term sometimes used to describe the quasi-legal status that the DACA program confers.
“When I got DACA,” Molina Susunaga said, “it was a relief because we had a chance to do something with the degree we got. There were a lot of uncertainties because of meeting the work permit, the social security, so it was something that definitely opened up doors.”
Beatriz Hernandez is in a different position: An undocumented immigrant, she does not qualify for DACA because, she says, she can’t document that she was present in the U.S. by June 2007. Hernandez says her immigration status played a big role in her life emotionally and financially.
“I didn’t have the same opportunities as other people because of my status,” said Hernandez, who now works as an organizer for the California Immigrant Policy Center. . “Then on top of all that, having the anxiety and the uncertainty of not knowing where my future would be after graduating, even though I had a degree.”
For more than two decades, Congress has failed to pass so-called “comprehensive immigration reform” legislation to address long-running concerns with U.S. policy along the border with Mexico.
Even attempts at more-limited overhauls have fallen short. Recently, the U.S. House has already passed a bill that would permanently shield DACA recipients from deportation and give them a path to citizenship — a proposal that lacks the necessary votes in the Senate.
Advocates say DACA’s recent losing streak in court highlights the need for Congress to try again.
“We are much at a standstill on how we can continue to fight for this program in the courts. We know that it will go back to the Fifth Circuit Court who already decided that the program is legal. From there it will go up to the Supreme Court, which is a majority conservative court and we are not hopeful it will survive the Supreme Court,” said Fierro Ruiz. “As of right now, we are really at a state where our only way to win and protect immigrant youth, who have benefited or who could have benefited from this program is to fight a legislative fight.”
Amid the uncertainty, Manzi advises DACA recipients and undocumented youth to keep renewing their DACA status.
“You can submit it up to four months before it expires. Don’t let it expire,” said Manzi. “There’s a lot of organizations including different consulates that will help with the immigration fee.”
This show was produced by Giovani Reyes, Reyna Torres & Jennifer Valdez
