Washington, DC – Below is a column by Maribel Hastings from America’s Voice en Español translated to English from Spanish. It ran in several Spanish-language media outlets earlier this week:
June 15, 2026, marks 14 years since Democratic President Barack Obama signed the executive order granting Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). The anniversary comes against the backdrop of one of the most critical chapters for Dreamers, who have not been spared from Donald Trump’s detention and deportation campaign.
Since its first term (2017–2021), the Trump administration has sought to eliminate DACA through litigation that continues in the courts. Under the current administration, there have also been more cases of detentions and deportations of DACA recipients—a program that, in addition to granting them work permits, is supposed to protect them from deportation.
DACA protections have also been weakened by litigation and severe delays in renewing work permits, causing many beneficiaries to lose their jobs. As a result, they are more vulnerable to detention and deportation.
Additionally, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) ruled that being a DACA beneficiary does not automatically guarantee protection from deportation.
No exact figures have been provided, but in late February, in a letter sent to Illinois Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, DHS indicated that between January 1 and November 19, 2025, ICE arrested 261 DACA recipients and deported 86 of them.
The Home is Here movement estimates that more than 340 have been detained by ICE and 90 deported. Several cases have also garnered significant media attention.
Last week, Senator Durbin unsuccessfully introduced amendments to the ICE and CBP budget to protect Dreamers from deportation.
Durbin introduced the original Dream Act to legalize Dreamers on April 25, 2001. Twenty-five years have passed, and there is still no solution in sight.
A May report by FWD.us notes that 14 years later, “while DACA recipients have grown and changed, the DACA policy has not kept up, and it has been less effective over time in large part because of attacks on the program in the courts and from the current administration.”
In 2012, “when the DACA policy launched, DACA recipients were generally younger people who were in high school, or who were just beginning their college education or their careers…As many were in school or just beginning careers, DACA recipients earned an average income of only $4,000 per year.”
On the 14th anniversary of DACA, among the original beneficiaries, only 8% are in school; 89% are in the workforce, and their average annual income is $46,000. Almost all of them—99%—have graduated from high school, and approximately half have completed at least some college coursework.
There are 2.6 million Dreamers living in the United States. Approximately one-third (900,000) are eligible for DACA, but of those, 400,000 cannot access the program due to court litigation that prohibits new applications. As of September 2025, nearly 506,000 had DACA.
All of them, with and without DACA, have established lives, families, and jobs. They are united by the same uncertainty.
According to FWD.us, “nearly 1.7 million Dreamers, about 64%, are already trained and employed in critical sectors of the economy.”
“Dreamers already contribute an estimated $76 billion to the U.S. economy each year through their wages, and pay nearly $24 billion annually in combined federal, payroll, state, and local taxes,” the report adds.
Gaby Pacheco, one of the original leaders of the movement to legalize Dreamers and president and CEO of TheDream.US, puts it this way:
“Dreamers, both with and without DACA, should be candidates for U.S. citizenship, not targets for deportation. Unfortunately, as we mark 14 years of DACA, Dreamers are facing a current environment of increased enforcement and restricted opportunities – despite the volume of stories and statistics from DACA that make an opposite case. We cannot afford to be silent at this moment, and we have to ensure that those voices speaking out are not just Dreamers and those advocating on their behalf, but also from the business owners, neighbors, friends, and classmates who rely on Dreamers and care about their futures in this nation. Providing Dreamers with stability, certainty, and opportunity is not only the right thing to do, but it will also make our country stronger and more prosperous for everyone.”
The original Spanish version is here.
