DACA recipients are losing their protected status due to lengthy administrative delays

Significant delays in DACA renewals are causing people to lose their legal status and work authorization.

Under DACA, or the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, people who were brought into the country illegally as children gain legal status and a work permit. There are almost 500,000 DACA holders in the United States and every one of them is required to renew their status every two years.

“DACA renewals, since I started doing immigration law 10 years ago, have generally been pretty quick,” said Noah Montague, an advocate with Al Otro Lado. “A lot of times within weeks or a month.”

In fiscal year 2025, according to federal data, it only took two weeks on average to process renewal applications. Now, the average wait time is nearly three months.

For some DACA recipients the process has taken even longer — up to six or eight months — according to Montague.

Marciela Amezola, a San Diego-based immigration lawyer, noticed something was off in January. Typically, renewal applications she filed in November would start to get approved.

“February rolls around, then March, April — and now people are reaching out to us saying they’re about to lose their jobs,” she said.

Several of her clients had their DACA status expire while waiting for renewals, which essentially turned them into undocumented immigrants overnight. Amezola said several of her clients work in essential jobs, like nursing. Now that they cannot legally work, some of them are selling food at swap meets to cover bills.

“They still have to go out there and hustle,” she said.

Amezola has been practicing law since before the creation of the DACA program in 2012. She views these administrative delays as a betrayal of the program.

“At this point, they’re not kids, they’re all grown now,” she said. “They’re parents and business owners. They’re established in the community. They are more American than they are whatever their birth country is.”

For DACA recipients in San Diego, having your status expire while living in one of the most unaffordable cities in the county can be devastating.

One DACA holder told KPBS her bills quickly piled up. She asked KPBS not to disclose her name out of concern for her immigration status.

“The bills and rent are not going to wait for you to find a job,” she said.

The woman worked as a paralegal at the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office. She specialized in child abuse, elder abuse and domestic violence cases. She told KPBS these administrative delays feel like a personal attack — as if the government does not want people like her in the country anymore.

“They want to break us down,” she said. “Because if you can’t survive here, what other option is there for you?”

Adam Peña is another local immigration lawyer who has seen several clients have their DACA status expire this year.

The most difficult cases involve people with U.S. citizen children who suddenly find themselves out of work.

Peña is still waiting for an application he submitted for a client six months ago

“She has three U.S.-born children — the eldest of which is active-duty U.S. Army and has been defending this country for four years,” he said.

He blames the Trump administration’s inefficiencies for the problem.

“What we’re seeing is this administration taking forever,” he said. “They’re dragging their feet and it’s coming to a point where people are left without protection and that puts them at risk of deportation.”

Rosario, the mother of three, told KPBS the last few months have been extremely difficult. She asked KPBS to only use her first name out of concern for her immigration status.

Rosario’s employer told her they’d have to lay her off because she no longer has a legal work permit.

“I don’t think that this is fair for our family,” Rosario said. “We’re trying so hard to work hard and be good citizens, to be an example that we can live here with no issues at all.”