Read Immigrants Rising’s statement on USCIS DACA delays

I never imagined I would have to step away from a position I genuinely loved because of a delayed DACA renewal.

For the past 14 years, I have been protected under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a program created for undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children. Most of us arrived here as babies, toddlers, or young children. The United States is the only home many of us have ever truly known.

To maintain DACA, recipients undergo extensive and repeated background checks, submit biometrics, renew every two years, pay significant filing fees, and comply with every requirement asked of us simply to continue legally working, studying, and building our lives here.

Like hundreds of thousands of others, I followed every rule. I renewed my DACA within the required timeline and trusted the system to process my application fairly.

Instead, my renewal has been left in limbo.

Recently, I attended my last work meeting and had to say goodbye to coworkers at a position I loved as a business administrator. Since sharing my story publicly, thousands of people have reached out — many with support, others with questions, and some with criticism. But one thing remains true:

These are not abstract political debates to us. These are our real lives.

DACA recipients are your coworkers, classmates, healthcare workers, business owners, teachers, counselors, neighbors, and community members. We work, study, pay taxes, support our families, and contribute to the communities we call home every single day. In fact, DACA recipients contribute billions of dollars to the U.S. economy annually while continuing to live under constant uncertainty about whether our livelihoods can disappear overnight.

We are not asking for special treatment. We are simply asking for fair and timely processing instead of being left trapped in endless uncertainty despite complying with the law.

For many DACA recipients, these delays mean losing jobs, healthcare, financial stability, educational opportunities, professional licenses, and the ability to support loved ones. These delays interrupt years of sacrifice and hard work.

For recipients from countries currently impacted by expanded “high-risk country” adjudicative holds under USCIS Policy Memorandum PM-602-0194 and Presidential Proclamation 10998, the fear and uncertainty have become even more severe.

I am originally from Venezuela. After reaching out to congressional representatives regarding my delayed DACA renewal, I was informed that my application had effectively been frozen under additional country-of-origin scrutiny connected to these policies.

Yet the original proclamation largely discussed foreign nationals abroad applying for visas to enter the United States. Many of us impacted by these adjudicative holds are already here.

We were brought here as children. We have been vetted repeatedly for years. We have built our education, careers, relationships, businesses, and communities here.

We are not random threats. We are human beings who have spent years complying with every requirement asked of us while living in constant uncertainty over whether the lives we built can continue overnight.

Without DACA, I now face interruptions not only to my employment, but potentially to the required clinical residency and graduate training necessary to continue pursuing my path toward becoming a therapist. I have worked for years toward this future. My education, clinical work, and professional path are all now being impacted by circumstances completely outside of my control.

This uncertainty impacts every corner of life — work, education, mental health, financial stability, family systems, and the ability to plan for a future at all.

And perhaps the hardest part is this:

People often say, “Why don’t you just go back home?”

But what if the place people expect us to return to was never truly home to begin with?

What happens when your memories, education, relationships, community, language, and entire sense of self were built here?

What happens when the only country you have truly known continues to treat your life like a temporary question mark?

No one should lose their livelihood, stability, education, or sense of safety because their application is left in indefinite limbo despite complying with the law.

DACA recipients should not continue being used as political bargaining chips while our lives remain suspended in uncertainty.

I am sharing my story because silence will not protect us anymore.

I urge USCIS and elected officials to stop leaving DACA recipients trapped in endless delays and uncertainty and to ensure fair and timely processing for those who have complied with every requirement asked of them.

We deserve dignity.
We deserve certainty.
And we deserve the ability to continue contributing to the only home many of us have ever truly known.

Please sign and share this petition to stand with DACA recipients.