As the Trump administration carries out mass deportations, participants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program are more at risk of being detained and placed into deportation proceedings, immigration attorneys say.
José Manuel Godínez-Samperio, an immigration attorney based in Bradenton, said the administration has shifted how DACA recipients were normally treated.
"The Department of Homeland Security seems to think that they can put these people in [deportation] proceedings even though they have DACA, and they also think they can detain them even though they have DACA," said Godínez-Samperio.
DACA protects approximately 530,000 "dreamers" in the U.S. from deportation.
Dreamers refer to those who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children.
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The DACA program was created through executive action by President Barack Obama in 2012, and gives eligible participants work authorization.
The program does not provide a pathway to citizenship.
DACA recipients must renew their status every two years, a process that requires background checks. Recipients can lose their protection if they commit a felony or serious misdemeanors.
Despite the protection, however, a number of DACA recipients across the U.S. have been swept up in immigration enforcement.
Godínez-Samperio said one of his clients in Florida was arrested on a false DUI charge. Even though he had valid DACA status, DHS detained him and tried to place him in removal proceedings, he said.
Ultimately, Godínez-Samperio said, he was able to get his client released after proving the charge was false.
Under previous administrations, he said, his client wouldn't have been detained since he was not convicted of a crime and did not pose a threat to the community.
"Under any previous administration, I'm not saying it [detention] never happened, but it was definitely very rare to see," said Godínez-Samperio.
Luis Castro, who specializes in immigration and criminal law in Bradenton, experienced a similar situation.
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A client with DACA status was charged with a DUI and detained. Instead of choosing to fight his case in detention, he chose voluntary departure and left the U.S. for Mexico.
Previously, including during President Donald Trump's first term, Castro said, he would normally be able to secure bond for his client. But enforcement priorities have changed, he said.
"It is harder to get bonds now in immigration court," he said, "Even if you qualify for a bond, they're denying because they don't want to give people time to actually fight a case if they have one."
When people are detained, they become desperate, Godínez-Samperio said.
"A lot of people who maybe would qualify to get released, end up just getting deported because they don't want to fight it," he said, "or maybe they want to fight it, but they don't have the money to pay for an attorney. I speculate that a lot of people end up deported even with DACA, because they don't have the resources to fight their case."
Home Is Here, a coalition of immigrant advocacy groups, has tracked more than 20 detentions of DACA recipients nationwide in recent months. Four are listed as being from Florida.
Ayah Al-Durazi, Home Is Here's campaign manager, said there could be more. Al-Durazi said the tracking relies mostly on cases that have been made public.
"These aren't just isolated events, but they're really warning signs that reveal a coordinated effort to weaken and dismantle this program," said Al-Durazi. "We're facing one of the most dangerous moments in DACA's history."
In a statement to NPR in July, DHS assistant press secretary Tricia McLaughlin said, "Illegal aliens who claim to be recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) are not automatically protected from deportations," and "DACA does not confer any form of legal status in this country."
In his first term, Trump tried unsuccessfully to end the DACA program. Current recipients can continue renewing their status, but the federal government isn't accepting new applications from eligible Dreamers.
This year, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling that would deny work permits for DACA recipients who live in Texas.
While the legal battle continues to play out, Al-Durazi said advocates and immigrants are fighting for more permanent protections — that includes a bipartisan bill called the Dream Act of 2025, which was introduced in the Senate last week.
It would offer Dreamers an opportunity to obtain legal status if they meet certain requirements.
"Valid protections are being ignored, folks are being snatched up throughout the country with those protections, and so there is that uncertainty that's really opening up," said Al-Durazi.
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