Delays in DACA renewal processing have left some recipients unable to work, they say, and at greater risk of deportation.
DACA – which stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals – is the federal policy that allows undocumented people brought to the country as children to continue to live and work legally in the U.S.
Recipients must renew their status with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services every two years, each time paying more than $500 in fees, submitting to a screening and more.
Last year, renewal applications were taking about three months on average to process, but that time started to increase in November, according to immigration attorney Jan Bejar.
“File promptly,” Bejar said he advises his clients with DACA. “Don’t wait until three months before the expiration, start it six months before your card expires.”
Without that renewal and employment authorization, DACA recipients cannot legally work and have no valid immigration status.
“Every movement they take is a risk that they will come across ICE or the Border Patrol or some other agency, now even the TSA, which could arrest them and possibly put them in deportation proceedings because technically they are out of status,” Bejar said.
“Under the leadership of President Trump, USCIS is safeguarding the American people by more thoroughly screening and vetting all aliens, which can lengthen processing times,” USCIS Spokesman Matthew J. Tragesser said in a statement when asked about the delays.
“DACA does not confer any form of legal status in this country,” the statement continued. “Illegal aliens claiming to be recipients of DACA are not automatically protected from deportation. Any illegal alien who is a DACA recipient may be subject to arrest and deportation for a number of reasons —including if they committed a crime.”
“It has been amazing,” said Elsa Sanchez, a DACA recipient. “It has opened a lot of doors for me. I think it has made dreams possible for me.”
She was brought to the U.S. when she was 4 years old and now works as a customer success manager for a company that runs electronic medical record systems for doctors’ offices. She said she previously thought a corporate role and career advancement were out of reach.
“I had to adjust my mindset a little bit, you know?” she said. “Now going for jobs that I never thought I would go for before, and just feeling safe.”
In November, Sanchez submitted her DACA renewal, more than four months before it was set to expire on April 1. Each renewal process, she said, has been inconsistent.
“I've never felt completely secure that I'm always going to get my DACA every two years,” she said. “I feel like it's been something that I have for two years, and I live really good for two years, and I'm happy, and then that renewal year is scary, always.”
This time, she said she hadn’t gotten an update by March, submitted an inquiry with USCIS and the agency said they would get back to her in 60 days. She’s now past the expiration – placed on unpaid leave from her job as she waits.
“Just hearing those words, just being told that, you know, we have the 60 days, but that it could lead to a termination was super discouraging,” Sanchez said. “Just sad really. I think sadness and disappointment was what I felt that day.”
She’s now dipping into her savings to pay rent, she says, with her daughter’s college tuition bill due in August.
“I actually can define it as a pause on my dream,” Sanchez said. “It's not because of me, it’s not because I did anything wrong, it’s not because I didn’t renew on time, it's simply because it hasn't got processed. I think that having a pause is a setback.”
She said she's also leaving the house less and driving less out of fear.
“Full anxiety, like I just don't do it,” she said. “I have everything very close by, so I'm very grateful and I'm able to just, you know, go down the street either walking or if I do drive like it's really just a couple of street lights over, but it's just anxiety.”
For the latest local news updates, click here, or download the KRIS 6 News App.
Catch all the KRIS 6 News stories and more on our YouTube page. Subscribe today!
