New DOJ Ruling Puts DACA Recipients at Greater Risk

For years, DACA gave hundreds of thousands of young immigrants a fragile kind of security: permission to work, build lives, and avoid deportation — at least temporarily.

That security just got weaker.

On April 24, 2026, the Justice Department’s Board of Immigration Appeals issued a new precedent decision saying that DACA status alone is not enough to end deportation proceedings. The case involved Catalina “Xóchitl” Santiago, a DACA recipient whose removal case had been terminated by an immigration judge because her DACA protection was still active. DHS appealed — and won.

This does not mean Santiago is being deported immediately. But it does mean DACA recipients may now have less protection when the government decides to push forward with removal proceedings.

Unfortunately, DACA provides only temporary relief. It does not offer permanent legal status or guaranteed path to citizenship. But for many Dreamers, it has been the closest thing to stability in the U.S.

The message from the government is now clear: having DACA may help, but it may not stop deportation proceedings by itself.

For Dreamers, this is more than a legal technicality. It is a direct threat to lives, jobs, families, and futures built in the only country many of them have ever known.

Congress has avoided fixing this problem for decades. DACA was never meant to be the final answer — and now, more than ever, that answer has to come from Congress.

To read more about this decision, please click here.

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