By Janet Murguia*
fourteen years ago, The United States government made a promise. Announcing the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA), the government told young people: submit to background checks, prove your eligibility, pay your fees, and we will protect you from deportation. Hundreds of thousands of people bet their lives on that promise. Now, the Trump administration is failing to comply.
President Trump has gone back on his word to protect Dreamers. This administration has detained more than 260 DACA recipients and deported more than 85. In April, DACA was further weakened when the Board of Immigration Appeals issued a ruling determining that DACA is not sufficient to provide protection from deportation. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is no longer even trying to hide its position, recently stating that having DACA status will not protect people from deportation.
Among those recently arrested is Juan Chavez Velasco, a DACA recipient who had built a career as a medical laboratory scientistand worked on the front lines to save lives during the pandemic. In February, he was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Take care of a watch on in Texas while traveling to visit his wife, a U.S. citizen, and their premature baby, also a U.S. citizen, in a neonatal intensive care unit. After months of negotiations, Juan was released in May. Unfortunately, many other DACA recipients continue to face the consequences of these broken promises and remain in detention, far from their families.
These arrests illustrate the classic betrayal that lies at the center of the administration’s immigration policy: Claiming to go after dangerous criminals while detaining and deporting community-based, law-abiding people across the country.
Some may wonder why this should matter to them. The harm that families suffer when DACA recipients are deported is profound, and the economic consequences that communities face from these deportations are severe and reach far beyond the families directly affected. In 2024, DACA recipients contributed more than $2 billion to Social Security and Medicare — two programs they don’t even have access to — and legally generated nearly $28 billion as employers and employees. Removing DACA recipients undermines the economic engines of our communities.
As Americans, we must reflect on what happens when the federal government increasingly fails to deliver on its promises. Are the promises that guarantee people access to health care, basic education or clean water safe? Although administrations change, there are promises, rights and freedoms that we hope each administration respects. DACA should be one of those promises.
Immigrants, their U.S. citizen family members, and their employers trusted the government in good faith. They followed the process and instructions given to them. They trusted that they would maintain protection from deportation as long as they met the requirements and honored their part of the agreement, because they depended on the government keeping its word. If the government can betray them, the rights of all of us are at risk.
As we mark the 14th anniversary of DACA, we are encouraged that polls show that Americans broadly support granting criminal status and a path to citizenship to immigrants brought to the United States as children. However, only Congress can make that reality possible, so you must act to provide permanent protections to these Dreamers who are Americans in every way except on paper. UnidosUS has advocated for these protections for decades, and we will continue to demand that Congress act once and for all and provide the permanent solution that Dreamers deserve and urgently need.
Janet Murguia
President and CEO of UnidosUS.
