Why Should Delaware Care?
Delaware, along with the Philadelphia and Camden, New Jersey areas, are home to 3,130 active DACA recipients. DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, was a federal immigration program for people who were brought into the country as young children. The program, no longer accepting new participants, still gives recipients legal authorization to work and protection against deportations. But recent backlogs in permit renewals have disrupted the day-to-day lives of Delawareans under the program.
For one New Castle County single mother, living as a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient meant following a strict routine.
She would care for her child, work multiple jobs to support her small family and renew her work permit every two years with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to stay up to date with the federal program’s guidelines.
But delays in receiving her renewed work permit have thrown her routine out the window, leaving her without a job.
Instead of caring for dementia patients, as she has done for the past four years, the mother is struggling to make ends meet while she waits for the federal government to allow her to go back to work.
“We are just trying to survive, especially in this economy,” said the woman, who spoke to Spotlight Delaware on the condition of anonymity because of concerns around immigration enforcement.
The DACA program, created by the Obama administration, launched a temporary legal pathway for children brought to the U.S. to live and work in the country.
Recipients are required to renew their documentation with the federal government biannually, granting them temporary legal status. This allows DACA recipients to work, drive and live in the U.S. legally for another two years.
But Delawareans living under the program have experienced that biannual renewal process slowing to a halt under the Trump administration.
DACA formally ended under a 2017 executive order signed by President Donald Trump in his first term, but program participants who received the status prior to 2017 were grandfathered in and can renew their status based on eligibility requirements that include not having any felony convictions.
It is unclear what exactly is causing the USCIS renewal delays, but at least one lawyer blamed the Trump administration’s anti-immigration agenda.
Both USCIS and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to Spotlight Delaware’s request for comment.
And while the renewal delays continue, Delawareans living under DACA — many of whom have lived here for decades — face an uncertain future.
Lengthy delays with no answers
Normally, DACA recipients must file for renewal four to five months before their permits expire. They must compile documents such as tax returns, utility bills and be able to prove they have no criminal history.
DACA recipients who spoke to Spotlight Delaware said the process can cost anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars depending on whether they use a private attorney or nonprofit organization to file for a work permit renewal.
After filing the necessary paperwork, the process should not take more than 120 days, according to USCIS.
But two DACA recipients who spoke to Spotlight Delaware in August said their current renewals have been held up for months.
And they are not alone.
Rick Hogan, a Wilmington-based immigration attorney, said all his clients who are in need of work permit renewals are facing delays. Delays he hasn’t seen in his 10 years of work.
Hogan said his office has asked for clarification from the federal government about the backlog multiple times, but he has not received an explanation.
He believes it is a deportation tactic by the Trump administration.
“They would do something about it if they wanted to, and clearly they don’t because they know that they’re getting what they want, which is to pressure individuals to give them reason to think they should leave the United States,” Hogan said.
The frustration isn’t unique to Delaware.
The Justice Action Center, an immigration advocacy organization, filed a public records request along with other DACA supporters in May for USCIS documents that could explain the delays. After the Department of Homeland Security failed to reply, the group filed a lawsuit against DHS.
They are still awaiting a reply, said a spokesperson with the Justice Action Center.
Short-term fixes still cause anxiety
If a Delawarean cannot provide documentation of legal status, they can apply for a 60-day driving permit at the Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV).
This temporary permit has helped at least one DACA recipient ease their short-term concerns, but not every applicant is accepted.
The New Castle County single mother, despite multiple trips to the DMV, was turned down for a temporary driving permit.
But another woman, a community healthcare aide and business owner, was accepted after she took multiple trips to the DMV, compiling different documents and paying different fees than her normal DACA renewal process.
Even though the community healthcare aide was relieved to receive the driving permit, she does not know what will come next if her DACA status is not renewed soon.
She described it as “systematic chaos.”
Both women see the same words pop up on their computer screen when they log into their respective USCIS portals: “Your case is currently processing. We do not need any information from you.”
There is no estimated approval time provided.
The healthcare aide has been seeking any resources that could help her, including sending emails to a laundry list of lawmakers that includes Delaware Sens. Chris Coons and Lisa Blunt-Rochester, Gov. Matt Meyer, Lt. Gov. Kyle Evans Gay, Senate Majority Leader Bryan Townsend (D-Glasgow), Rep. Mara Gorman (D-Newark) and the Office of New Americans.
“I am not asking for special treatment,” the healthcare aide wrote in one of her emails. “I am asking for help navigating a situation where I have done everything required of me, but processing delays are creating a barrier that could significantly impact my family and the Delaware communities I serve.”
The governor’s office has not responded, but Sens. Coons and Blunt-Rochester’s respective offices told her they could not provide her with more information than what she already knew.
From a home in Delaware to an uncertain future
The single mother was just a year old when her own mom brought her to the U.S.
Her earliest memories aren’t from Mexico, where she was born, but of the flurry of snowflakes and the sheets of white that covered the streets of Chicago. Her family then moved to Delaware a couple years later, and she has been here ever since.
Before her DACA status lapsed, the mother worked multiple jobs to pay her taxes and care for her child.
The community healthcare aide was 9 years old when she came to the U.S. under a tourism visa. She later applied for and received DACA, and she is now attempting to become a U.S. citizen.
Since there is no pathway for DACA recipients to become citizens, the healthcare aide must be sponsored by her mother, a U.S. citizen, to receive permanent legal status.
The community aide said she wishes more people knew what immigrants with temporary status still contribute to the economy, oftentimes for benefits they cannot access themselves, like Social Security and Medicare.
“We are not a public charge to the United States,” she said. “We are paying millions in taxes for services we cannot access.”
Hogan, the immigration attorney, said he cannot offer much advice to his clients aside from telling them to advocate for policy changes.
There currently are three bipartisan federal proposals to create legal pathways to citizenship for DACA recipients, though it is unclear if any of those measures will advance.
The healthcare aide hopes Delaware’s senators will support the bills.
“People like me are falling through the cracks,” she said. “Without the support of all senators, we will continue facing the same situations.”
