DACA renewal delays leave Dreamers jobless, at risk of deportation

A renewal delay turned a routine DACA filing into a crisis for Melani Candia. After more than 10 years of repeated approvals, Candia’s latest request did not move fast enough, her deadline passed, and the work authorization that had let her keep a job in special education disappeared.

Candia had built her life in Florida with her husband and two cats, relying on a program that was supposed to shield young arrivals from losing their place in the country while they renewed every two years. Instead, she found herself in limbo after filing on time, only to wait past the expiration date before the government acted. For her, the delay meant losing work immediately and facing the possibility of detention, even though she had followed the rules.

The problem is broader than one case. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services says DACA renewal requests should ideally be filed 120 to 150 days before expiration to reduce the risk of a gap in status, but that warning has not prevented backlogs from stretching into months. From October 2025 through February 2026, the median DACA renewal time was about 70 days, compared with roughly 15 days in fiscal year 2025. USCIS said that was the longest median wait since 2016, when the program was slowed by technical problems as the government shifted to a more fully electronic system.

That lag matters because DACA does not create lawful immigration status. USCIS says the program grants deferred action for two years at a time, subject to renewal, and that current grants remain valid only until they expire unless individually terminated. The agency continues to accept renewal requests, but not initial requests, under the court orders that have kept the program partially alive. On Sept. 13, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas found the DACA final rule unlawful, and on Jan. 17, 2025, the Fifth Circuit issued another DACA-related decision. A partial stay preserved protections for people who first received DACA before July 16, 2021.

The stakes are large. More than 500,000 people have DACA nationwide, with roughly 506,000 recipients and nearly 28% in California alone, according to EdSource. The same reporting estimated that 6,784 educators in California had DACA, and that about 19,000 recipients seek renewal each month. For people like Candia, a delay of a few months can mean the loss of a job, a driver’s license, and the ability to stay in the only country many have ever known.