Last month, Tucson resident Karla Toledo was released from ICE detention after spending days in custody. Then, the federal government dropped its case against her altogether.
Now, the 31-year-old faces yet another hurdle: renewing her DACA status.
Toledo filed an application to renew her legal status, she said, but the federal government hasn’t processed it.
“I have a valid DACA now, but it's going to expire soon. So, that makes me really anxious,” she explained last week.
If Toledo’s DACA permit expires before it’s renewed, she’ll lose her legal status — meaning she’ll lose her ability to legally work in the United States. She’ll also become far more vulnerable to deportation.
She’s not alone. Across the country, DACA recipients and attorneys are describing significant delays in the renewal process.
DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, provides certain legal protections for people who arrived in the country as children. Every two years, DACA recipients must apply to renew their legal status in the United States.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the federal agency tasked with processing immigration applications, currently recommends DACA recipients file their renewal applications between 120 and 150 days before the expiration date of their current status.
Luis Campos, a Tucson-based immigration attorney who worked on Toledo’s case, said he’s urging DACA recipients to file sooner rather than later — at least 150 days before the expiration date: “Because those renewal processes are taking a significant period of time, and it's important that people don't lose those DACA protections,” he told AZPM last week.
Campos and the nonprofit Derechos Humanos are organizing a free legal clinic later this month for people with active immigration cases, including DACA recipients.
Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva said local DACA recipients are also contacting her office over the issue. Her constituent services team is looking into approximately 75 open cases related to DACA renewals, she told AZPM in a statement.
"We are seeing significantly longer processing times than in previous years, with some cases pending since last November," she said.
Slowed processing##
According to its online calculator, USCIS says it currently takes three-and-a-half months, on average, to process a DACA renewal form. By comparison, the average processing time for DACA renewals ranged from about two to eight weeks in recent years, according to federal data.
Mo Goldman, an attorney representing Toledo, accused the federal agency of purposely “dragging their feet” over DACA renewals last week.
“They're taking people's money to the tune of about $500 per application and not doing anything about it,” he said. “They're just sitting on these applications.”
Grijalva has made the same assertion.
"This is a clear indication that the Trump administration is deliberately slowing the renewal process," she said of the longer wait times. "At the same time, we have seen DACA recipients with no criminal history targeted in removal operations, as was the case with Karla Toledo."
On its website, the agency lists several possible reasons for longer wait times, including the volume of applications submitted, staffing allocations and policy changes.
Colleen Putzel-Kavanaugh, an associate policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, noted that staffing cuts at USCIS could be contributing to processing delays.
“A lot of (USCIS) staff has been sort of re-appropriated to the more enforcement side of things … the agency itself has been really changed, and so that can certainly have an impact on renewal applications, not just DACA but other work authorization in general,” she said.
The National Immigration Law Center, an advocacy organization for low-income immigrants, also points to the agency’s recent return to biometric fingerprinting appointments, which had been paused during the COVID-19 pandemic. To complete that step, applicants must wait for USCIS to schedule an in-person appointment — something that can potentially draw out the processing time for renewal applications, NILC noted.
In recent months, USCIS has also rolled out a slew of new vetting policies for various immigration applications beyond DACA renewals. Those new processes include:
- Increased review of applicants’ social media accounts and financial records
- Updated identity verification policies
- More frequent security checks for certain applicants seeking work authorization
“Through an ongoing comprehensive review of pending workloads and benefit applications, USCIS ascertained that prior screening and vetting measures were wholly inadequate,” the agency said in a statement this spring.
