Arizona, California senators call on Congress, White House to find solution for Dreamers

As processing delays for DACA renewals and increased detentions continue to upend beneficiaries’ lives across the U.S., lawmakers from Arizona and California joined immigration advocates and community members on Tuesday to call on Congress to pass a permanent legislative solution for Dreamers.

While the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program offers temporary authorized stay and employment for a small percentage of the undocumented population in the U.S., since the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) launched its mass deportation operations in January 2025, many have come to learn that DACA status does not necessarily grant protection from deportation — an issue that U.S. senators demand be addressed.

“I think most of us and most Americans would agree… that our country would benefit from an immigration system that is fair and actually works. Instead, in Arizona and across the country, we’ve seen the targeting of law-abiding individuals, including Dreamers, grandmothers, business owners, veterans and even young children,” Kelly said during the news conference held in front of the U.S. Capitol.

Led by TheDream.us, Kelly was joined by DACA recipients, Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), among others. They spoke to the reality of Dreamers in the U.S., who are being caught up in immigration raids and removal orders, while hundreds of thousands of current beneficiaries' lives are put on hold as renewal delays become more commonplace.

“Fourteen years ago our country made a promise… to you young people who were brought to the U.S. as children… a promise that if they came out of the shadows and followed some simple rules that they would be protected in this country — the only country that they've ever truly known,” Padilla said from the podium.

They held up their end of the bargain, Padilla went on, adding that hundreds of thousands of immigrants who have benefited from DACA have gone to college, built careers, started families and become leaders in their communities.

“Now we’re in the second Trump administration… [which is] causing so much damage, so much destruction and not just breaking that promise of DACA but shattering it,” he said.

The news conference took place on the same day that Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) spoke in defense of the Dream Act during a spotlight forum in the Senate chambers and a day after Rep. Greg Stanton (D-Ariz.) held a similar conference alongside Aliento Arizona, a Phoenix-based non-profit that advocates for Dreamers in their pursuit of higher education. 

Stanton recently joined other House Democrats in sending a letter to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin calling for an end to the DACA renewal delays — some of which have taken over six months to process.

In addition to the renewal backlog, since President Donald Trump’s return to the White House, DHS has been reopening previously closed immigration cases, including those of DACA recipients, impacting people like Carlos, a caregiver who lives in Tucson and whose future currently lies in the hands of an Arizona immigration judge. 

He enrolled in DACA in 2012, the same year it was implemented. Last summer, his case was reopened 14 years after it was closed, forcing him into a legal fight for his right to stay in a country he’s known as home since he was 10 years old.

Dixie Ortiz, a TheDream.us alumna who has been working as an elementary school teacher for the past six years, has also been in the U.S. since she was 10.

“This country is home, it is where I grew up, where I went to school, where I built my future and where I now help shape the future of others,” she said during the news conference. “But living on temporary protection for over a decade also means living with uncertainty. Every two years I worry whether my renewal will arrive on time; I worry about losing the career I fought so hard for; I worry about being separated from the community and students who depend on me… I am simply asking for the opportunity to continue doing so with certainty and dignity.”

As of January 2025, the decision passed down by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals paused all new DACA applications, ensuring only current beneficiaries can submit renewal applications for the two-year permit program.

In April, the Board of Immigration Appeals — “the highest administrative body for interpreting and applying immigration laws” operating under the directive of the Department of Justice — ruled that having DACA status does not provide an individual with relief from deportation, effectively making it easier for the current administration to continue detaining and deporting current permit-holders.

The exact numbers of impacted beneficiaries isn’t clear.

From January 2025 to November 2025, the department detained 261 DACA recipients and deported 86 of them, according to a letter signed by former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem in February of this year. However, those numbers contradict a January-issued DHS letter which indicates that 270 DACA recipients were detained and 174 deported between January 2025 and September 2025.

Gaby Pacheco, president and CEO of TheDream.us urged Congress to “work together to chart a different vision for Dreamers in this nation.”

“All of this is not only terrifying for Dreamers and for all of us who love them, but it is also deeply alarming to our nation,” Pacheco said during the news conference. “It is harmful, it is weakening our economy and hurting our communities and it’s undermining the values we hold dear as Americans.”

The news conference comes days after FWD.us launched a campaign to document and push back against the Trump administration’s “escalating attacks” on DACA recipients which include delaying renewals, denying new applicants, detaining current beneficiaries and, in some cases, eventually deporting them.