Alex Padilla U.S. Senator for California

By Alexei Koseff

Julio has been out of work for four months, relying on retirement savings and occasional under-the-table jobs to help support his wife and 13-month-old daughter.

For nearly 14 years, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program offered Julio — who was brought to the United States from El Salvador illegally at the age of 4 — protection from deportation and permission to work. He built a career as a service technician for an oil and gas company and started a family in his San Bernardino County community.

But under the Trump administration, the once-routine renewal of DACA status, which must be extended every two years, has turned into a protracted and uncertain process that is upending applicants’ lives and fomenting fears about the program’s future.

DACA recipients complain that their cases now drag on for months longer than before with no clarity from U.S. Immigration and Citizenship Services, which administers the program. Federal lawmakers say their offices have been flooded this year with people seeking help expediting their applications before they lose their status.

Because a previous attempt by President Donald Trump to dismantle DACA was blocked in the courts, advocates worry the administration is intentionally stalling renewals in a backdoor effort to undermine the program and drive participants out of the country.

“We follow the quote-unquote rules, we follow the process that’s been laid out for us, and at the end of the day, we were given a false promise,” Julio said. The Chronicle agreed to identify him only by his first name, in line with its policy on anonymous sources, because of concerns about retaliation from the government.

When he submitted the paperwork for his most recent DACA renewal in November, ahead of the February expiration, Julio figured he was giving himself plenty of time. The process had typically taken a few weeks, and no more than two months, in the past.

Yet by February, Julio said he had received only a “boilerplate response” to “keep waiting.” With his work authorization lapsed, Julio tried to take a leave of absence from his job, but his boss eventually filled the position as his case stretched on without resolution. Julio said it hurt to lose “a career that’s pretty difficult to break into.”

His status was finally reinstated last month — after more than 190 days, Julio said. He has struggled to find another service technician job and is now looking for work in a different field.

“At the end of the day, we’re at the mercy of the government,” he said. “But that’s the consequence of the life we’ve been given.”

It’s a dilemma for more than 140,000 Californians — including nearly 19,000 in the Bay Area — who are part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, according to 2025 data.

Created by then-President Barack Obama in 2012, after legislative efforts failed, DACA is a legal reprieve for residents who were brought to the country unlawfully as minors and lived in the United States for at least five years. Court challenges have blocked new enrollments since 2021, but renewals continue and about half a million people across the country still hold DACA status.

During his first term, President Trump repealed DACA, a decision that was ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court. But since his return to office, Trump administration officials have moved to make DACA recipients ineligible for benefits such as the federal health insurance marketplace and encouraged them to self-deport.

Public data shows that, as of February, the median processing time for DACA renewal applications has grown to 2.3 months in the 2026 fiscal year, compared with half a month in the 2025 fiscal year.

USCIS did not respond to questions about what policy changes led to the longer processing times and whether they were meant to pressure DACA recipients to return to their birth countries.

“Under the leadership of President Trump, USCIS is safeguarding the American people by more thoroughly screening and vetting all aliens,” spokesperson Zach Kahler said in a statement. “DACA does not confer any form of legal status in this country.”

Members of California’s congressional delegation report a surge in DACA recipients reaching out for help with application delays. Last month, 11 Democratic House members from the Bay Area sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin asking for an explanation for the long processing times because their offices are receiving 5-10 new cases per week, compared with almost none last year. Four Central Valley members, including Republican Rep. David Valadao, also wrote to Mullin expressing concerns about a “substantial increase” in unresolved renewals among their constituents.

Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla said his office has dealt with hundreds of cases this year of Californians who are worried their DACA status will expire and are unable to get any information from USCIS. His staff will contact the agency about their applications and, occasionally, the advocacy seems to expedite renewal, like last month with a San Francisco nurse who was at risk of losing her job.

“These are folks who have been renewing consistently for years and years and years,” Padilla said. “It shouldn’t take that long.”

Padilla said he raised his concerns about the delays with Mullin before the homeland security secretary’s confirmation in March and was promised more professionalism, though he has yet to notice any changes in the process.

“It is really hard to see how it is not intentional, especially when fees are processed on a timely basis but the paperwork isn’t moving,” Padilla said. He accused the Trump administration of cruelly slow-walking DACA renewals “to put these young people who are already living with a tremendous amount of uncertainty in an even more vulnerable position.”

The turmoil has left many DACA recipients feeling less secure about their future in this country, and some are changing how they live because of the stress and paranoia.

“It’s kind of in this weird place where you’re looking over your shoulder while you’re driving, while you’re at the store. There’s just not any way for you to feel safe,” said Daisy, a 31-year-old special education teacher in Northern California. The Chronicle is identifying her only by her first name. She said she is sticking close to home and saving more money in case her status lapses and she is not able to work.

Daisy, whose parents brought her to the United States illegally from Mexico as an infant, said she felt like she grew up with blinders on about what her life could be. Being granted DACA status in 2013 completely changed her trajectory, allowing her to pursue an education and opportunities she never would have conceived of before.

“For me, it was kind of like a sigh of relief,” Daisy said. “There were so many things that were possible at that point.”

Renewals were granted “like clockwork” for years, she said. But after reading about the growing wait times in an online forum last fall, Daisy decided to give herself a bigger cushion and submitted her application in December, even though her DACA status does not expire until this coming November. She has yet to hear anything back, despite reaching out to the offices of her senator and member of Congress for help.

Daisy worries the government is trying to push her and other DACA recipients to leave, though she has no plans to return to the small town in Mexico where she was born, because “my friends are here, my family’s here, this is my home.”

“I’m not even sure how I would feel. I’ve never been there. I’ve never even seen any pictures,” she said. “It’s hard to imagine going there and having to start over not knowing anything.”

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