DACA renewal delays leave ‘Dreamers’ without status and fearing detention

Melani Candia, a Florida special education worker who has called the U.S. home since she was six, is now facing the prospect of detention after delays in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program caused her to miss a critical renewal deadline.

For more than a decade, Candia had consistently secured her status every two years, allowing her to live with her husband and two cats and continue her work. This year, however, the program’s holdups have cost her job and intensified her fears.

The Obama-era initiative, which shields hundreds of thousands of individuals brought to the U.S. as children from deportation and grants them temporary work authorization, is experiencing renewal wait times not seen since 2016, when technical issues were widespread.

Candia described her long-standing fear as an immigrant as her “new baseline.” She added, “But now, having a new level of vulnerability, it was a very quick increase in the fear.”