The future of approximately 580,000 DACA recipients remains uncertain as legal challenges to the program continue and immigration enforcement intensifies. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, established in 2012 under President Obama, allows eligible undocumented individuals who arrived in the U.S. as children to work and study without facing deportation.
Recent developments have heightened concerns among DACA recipients. An appeals court ruling last month partially challenged the program while maintaining protections for current beneficiaries as litigation proceeds. The case is expected to reach the Supreme Court, which could rule against the program.
Current DACA recipients maintain their protections as long as they renew their status on time, according to the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. However, those who fail to renew promptly risk losing their protected status. A recent case involving a 24-year-old middle school teacher’s deportation to Honduras has raised additional concerns within the DACA community, though details about the teacher’s DACA status remain unclear.
The program faces ongoing legal opposition from nine Republican-led states, continuing challenges that began during the previous Trump administration’s attempt to end DACA in 2017. While public opinion polls consistently show majority support among U.S. adults for providing DACA recipients with permanent legal status and citizenship pathways, the program remains closed to new applicants, excluding an estimated 400,000 potential beneficiaries.
Some supporters of the current administration, including conservative Latino evangelical leader Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, suggest there may be efforts to create alternative solutions for DACA recipients if the program ends. However, advocacy groups note they have not received concrete indications of such plans.
The situation particularly impacts individuals like Sandra Avalos, 36, who arrived from Mexico at age 7 and has built a life in Texas. A college graduate and mother working in the nonprofit sector, Avalos has maintained her DACA status for nine years, which enables her to work legally, drive, and avoid deportation concerns while raising her teenage son. “I want to stay in this country,” says Avalos. “I want to see my kid go through with high school, finish, graduate, and then go off to college. I want to be here for all of that.”
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