When Barack Obama created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in 2012, granting deportation protections and work permits to eligible immigrants to the U.S., Dreamers who came to the country as children breathed a sigh of relief.
But they felt under threat during Donald Trump‘s first administration, when the then-president attempted to end the program. Although he was unsuccessful, immigrants under DACA worry that a second Trump White House may ultimately remove the Obama-era protections, considering the president-elect’s frequent threats to carry out mass deportations.
“I have to take [Trump’s] words very seriously, that when they say ‘mass deportation,’ it also includes people like me,” DACA recipient Reyna Montoya, who came to the U.S. at age 10 and now runs an immigrant rights advocacy organization in Arizona, Aliento, told the Associated Press. Montoya says DACA allowed her to work legally, receive health and dental care and get a driver’s license.
There were upwards of 535,000 active DACA recipients as of August, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services reported. Most live in California, New York and Texas. A majority U.S. voters support the program, according to 2023 polling by Data for Progress.
“There’s a lot of fear involved and there’s a lot of uncertainty,” Ramiro Luna, a DACA recipient, told NPR after Trump’s election. “But there’s also this resilience and this fight in our community.”
Trump’s efforts to cancel DACA were stymied in 2020 when the Supreme Court ruled he illegally ended the program, sending the case back to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals where it remains.
“I don’t know that [the incoming Trump administration] could actually terminate the program any faster than the current ligation is going,” Stephen Yale-Loehr, Cornell University professor of immigration law practice, told the AP. “They could still do it, but they’ve got an awful lot of immigration policy matters on their plate.”
Trump has threatened to declare a national emergency, so he can use the military to deport migrants, claiming there is “no price tag” too steep for carrying out mass deportations. Stephen Miller, a close Trump advisor, has repeatedly used the word “camps” to describe where they plan to send immigrants prior to deportation.
When asked about the possibility of putting immigrants in camps, Trump told Time magazine this past April, “I would not rule out anything.” But he added, “There wouldn’t be that much of a need for them” because his plan is to send them back to their country of origin as soon as possible.
“We’re not leaving them in the country,” Trump said. “We’re bringing them out.”
In addition to deportations, Trump has vowed to bring back another “much stronger” travel ban. Concerned about the possibility of a new travel ban, some colleges have begun warning international students that they should return to campus before Trump is sworn in on Jan. 20, 2025.
“Living scared every day, living scared of like walking out every time there’s a police officer around, I’m like, ‘Oh my god, do they know? Can they do something about it?’” first-generation student Grecia Esparza, a Dreamer who attends Wichita State, told KWCH.
“Legally, I have no control over it,” Esparza added. “I try to live day-by-day. I’m here in college, trying to get my degree. And if that’s what God wants, then that’s what’s going to happen.”