Delayed DACA renewals force police officers off the job

At least three California officers have had to surrender their badges and firearms and go on unpaid administrative leave, and two Los Angeles Police Department officers were placed on unpaid leave in early June after their DACA-based work permits expired. Delayed DACA renewals are pushing trained officers off local police rosters, and departments are already short on experienced personnel.

Édgar Vázquez Silva, a police officer in Mississippi, came to the United States as a child and built a career around a badge he now fears losing if his work authorization does not arrive in time. In his first week on the job, he saw a dead body for the first time.

DACA was created on June 15, 2012, when the Department of Homeland Security announced that certain people who came to the United States as children and meet the program’s rules could request deferred action for two years, subject to renewal, and could also request work authorization. Applicants must satisfy threshold criteria, including arriving before age 16 and maintaining continuous residence, and deferred action remains discretionary. In fiscal 2026’s first quarter, USCIS recorded 495,320 active DACA recipients, with a median age of 31.9.

USCIS recorded a median wait time for DACA renewals of about 70 days from October 2025 through the end of February 2026, up from about 15 days in fiscal 2025, a jump of more than 360 percent. USCIS is recalibrating how it reports processing times and strengthening screening and vetting for foreign nationals seeking immigration benefits under Trump-era directives.

USCIS has also ended automatic extensions of employment authorization documents for some categories filed on or after Oct. 30, 2025. For workers whose jobs depend on current authorization, a delay can interrupt employment immediately. Roughly 500,000 people must repeat the DACA process every two years, and a slowdown affects police departments, hospitals, schools and other employers that rely on them.

A survey by the Center for American Progress and NILC found that 90.7 percent of respondents ages 25 and older were employed, and a 2024 DACA survey found 94.5 percent worried about their own or family members’ physical safety, health care or education access. An earlier survey found hourly wages more than doubled after DACA. In California, where state law allows DACA recipients to work in law enforcement, agencies have still been slow to hire them despite staffing shortages.