While many wait to apply for DACA for the first time, others appreciate it every time they renew

For the first time in four years, there is a possibility that undocumented youth may be able to apply for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in the near future. DACA provides temporary deportation protection and a two-year renewable work permit. 

On September 29, all parties involved in the DACA case – including the Department of Justice – filed briefs to the federal court with suggestions about how to proceed to implement the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit's January ruling. The DOJ laid out how the federal government would begin accepting new applications if the judge approved the plans. 

Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) President and General Counsel Thomas A. Saenz said the briefs were in response to Judge Andrew Hanen’s July order containing the proposals and suggestions by the different parties for resolution of the case. 

“Ultimately, actual implementation plans will be determined and ordered by the court,” Saenz said in a press release. “Thus, no one should interpret these briefs as a definitive indication of how the Fifth Circuit decision will actually be implemented.”

MALDEF is concerned that the federal proposals do not adequately account for current Texas-based DACA recipients with respect to work authorization.

There are two more briefs due on October 20 and 27.

The sentiment of a DACA recipient

In 2021, a judge ruled the program illegal and placed an injunction on new applications. Only current DACA applicants have been allowed to renew. Currently, there are about half a million people with DACA. 

One of them is Brian de los Santos, an L.A.-based journalist, who has been diligently renewing his DACA every two years since its inception in 2012. De los Santos came to the U.S. in 1992 at the age of two and has been a working journalist for the past 13 years. 

Learning about the possibility of reopening DACA for first-time applicants is a “bittersweet” moment for him. 

“I would love for more people to have the opportunity to be working like I am, but at the same time, I'm very hesitant to trust an administration that isn't doing nothing but harming the communities that I live in,” he said. 

For him, the Trump administration hasn’t been clear with the immigrant communities, and he wonders if this is the right action or another possibility to gather people’s information. 

Meanwhile,he non-stop ICE raids across the country, racial profiling and deportations without due process continue. 

While DACA is the road to temporary safety, many have advocated for years to create a path to citizenship for this group of immigrants, who in many cases, are professionals with higher education. 

De los Santos said DACA was supposed to be a “band-aid” with the promise that Congress would create something more permanent, but it hasn’t happened yet. Nonetheless, it has been a life line for many. 

“If I didn’t have DACA, I wouldn’t have been able to do so many things,” said De los Santos.

As a DACA recipient, De los Santos has not only been able to work in a profession that he loves, but he was also able to travel outside of the country and enter legally through the Advance Parole program. 

And while he has spent thousands of dollars renewing his DACA every two years since 2012, he said it’s worth it. He was able to confirm it recently in a social media post where he shared his frustration and anxiety. For the first time this year, he applied a little later than usual. His DACA expired in July, and for about six weeks, he was living in limbo with no DACA and no updated news, until he received his renewal in early September.

“I just felt like my world crashed, like everything that I knew, everything that I had been accustomed to … I would have to start from zero again,” he said. 

Then, watching the news and listening to others talk about the Trump administration's efforts of mass deportations or convincing people to self-deport without due process was just increasing his anxiety levels. 

“I was scared seeing all of that, plus not having a work permit,” he said. 

He said what helped him overcome this waiting game was the support of his community, from family to friends and even his neighbors who have always been there for him. He said that with this experience, he learned two things: “I cannot wait to start my DACA renewal late,” he said. “And you always have to look for yourself first before going to help others.”