\n<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been six months since Claudia first applied to renew her US immigration status \u2013 a process that, for the last 14 years, would only take a few weeks.<\/p>\n
But now, the prolonged delay has put her life on hold. Claudia, who moved to the US when she was four, has maintained legal status as a \u201cDreamer\u201d with the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) program, which was created in 2012 to protect undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children from deportation.<\/p>\n
In December, Claudia submitted her Daca renewal, as she is required to do every two years. Under the Trump administration, a process that typically takes just a few weeks has dragged on for months. The delay has meant years of work she put into her education and starting a career are now at risk because of the lapse in her work authorization.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels like a personal attack,\u201d said Claudia, who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation given her immigration status. \u201cI renewed on time, completed my biometrics, followed every rule, but I\u2019m still waiting to hear back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cesar, who requested anonymity due to his immigration status, has also been in a six-month limbo over his Daca renewal. After he lost his job in HR, he has been selling burritos on the street to make up for the lost income and has been sharing his story online.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I lose everything. We grew up here, we built a community here, and we built our lives here. I lost my dream job,\u201d said Cesar, who moved to the US when he was four. \u201cIt\u2019s been very hard, especially since I\u2019m not making enough. I\u2019m barely scraping by.\u201d<\/p>\n
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This article includes content provided by TikTok. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click ‘Allow and continue’<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The processing delays come at a time when Daca Dreamers are face growing hostility from the Trump administration. Hundreds of Daca holders have been arrested by federal immigration enforcement and several have been deported over the last year amid the White House\u2019s broader immigration crackdown.<\/p>\n Though the White House has said it is targeting immigrants with criminal records, a Guardian analysis from earlier this year found 77% of people who entered deportation proceedings in 2025 had no criminal conviction.<\/p>\n More than 500,000 active Daca recipients reside in the US from nearly 200 different countries. To be eligible for the program, an individual must have entered and resided in the US before 15 June 2007, either in school or have a high school or equivalent degree, and no criminal record.<\/p>\n Donald Trump attempted to eliminate the Daca program during his first term, but was ultimately blocked by the supreme court in 2020. Despite the ruling, litigation against Daca is ongoing and the administration has remained focused on targeting program recipients through new work restrictions and processing delays, immigration advocates said.<\/p>\n \u201cDaca delays are pushing recipients out of the workforce, jeopardizing the stability of working families, employers and local economies,\u201d said Juliana Macedo do Nascimento, deputy director of advocacy and campaigns at United We Dream, an immigrant advocacy non-profit.<\/p>\n Along with the processing delays, the Trump administration recently proposed a new rule that would impose new work authorization restrictions on Daca holders, including a requirement that their employer be enrolled in using E-Verify. It also implemented a rule that prohibits Daca holders from obtaining commercial driver\u2019s licenses.<\/p>\n Macedo do Nascimento said the new policies come as the administration carries out a \u201cquiet unraveling of temporary programs across the board\u201d, from Daca to humanitarian parole.<\/p>\n It\u2019s \u201ca mass delegalization effort to push out millions of people who have built careers, families, and homes here, and contribute billions to the US economy year after year\u201d, Macedo do Nascimento said.<\/p>\n Claudia emphasized that Daca recipients grew up in the US and want to contribute to the economy.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re just people trying to study and work,\u201d she said. \u201cWe aren\u2019t asking for special treatment, we just want a fair opportunity to keep moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n In a statement, Zach Kahler, a spokesperson for US Citizenship and Immigration Services, said that \u201cDaca does not confer any form of legal status in this country\u201d and that the agency \u201cis safeguarding the American people by more thoroughly screening and vetting all aliens\u201d.<\/p>\n Immigration advocates point out that lawmakers in Congress can support Daca recipients by passing the Dream Act, a bipartisan bill that would grant recipients with permanent residential status and a pathway to citizenship.<\/p>\n \u201cThe idea that people who have spent years contributing to their communities could lose everything because of bureaucratic delays and political attacks is both cruel and deeply damaging to America\u2019s future,\u201d said Gaby Pacheco, president and CEO of TheDream.US, a non-profit that offers scholarships to undocumented students. \u201cWhat we are seeing right now is the slow unraveling of stability for hundreds of thousands of Dreamers who have done everything this country has asked of them.\u201d<\/p>\n Cesar said that the process of waiting for his renewal had been an \u201cemotional rollercoaster\u201d, teetering between faith and overpowering stress.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have now lost our jobs, we have lost our security. We don\u2019t feel safe being in public,\u201d Cesar said. \u201cWe had reached the American Dream, but suddenly it vanished.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s been six months since Claudia first applied to renew her US immigration status \u2013 a process that, for the last 14 years, would only take a few weeks. But now, the prolonged delay has put her life on hold. Claudia, who moved to the US when she was four, has maintained legal status as<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50384,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[673,24778,3919,2081,2622,3546,2517,24755,81,7242],"class_list":{"0":"post-50383","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-attack","9":"tag-dreamers","10":"tag-feels","11":"tag-immigration","12":"tag-jobs","13":"tag-losing","14":"tag-personal","15":"tag-renewals","16":"tag-trump","17":"tag-waiting"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=50383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50383\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/50384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=50383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=50383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=50383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}