When migrant children come to the U.S. illegally with their families, an Obama-era policy known as DACA is supposed to protect them from immigration enforcement into adulthood while they await permanent legal status. But a growing number of program recipients have been placed in immigration detention — including a 32-year-old man from Miami.
JeanCarlos Fiallos Manzanares is a Florida resident with family in Miami Gardens, and a recipient of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). He came to the U.S. from Honduras when he was around six years old. DACA Recipients, often called "Dreamers," must renew their status every two years.
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Last summer, Fiallos Manzanares was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and taken to an immigration detention center in New Mexico — nearly 2,000 miles away from home.
"He is a father, he has DACA, and last year ICE showed up to the front of his mother's house as he was dropping off his kids and detained him in a targeted operation," said Juliana Macedo do Nascimento, a member of the nonprofit immigration advocacy network United We Dream, during an immigration press call in March.
Fiallos Manzanares has now been in ICE detention for ten months, despite his legal status under DACA. He filed a lawsuit against ICE field office director Jose Artez last August arguing he is being wrong fully detained.
"Petitioner challenges his continued immigration detention on the ground that he received a favorable Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) decision. Having reviewed the records, the Court finds that Respondents should answer the Petition," wrote Judge Kea Riggs, a U.S. District judge for New Mexico, in a November court filing.
There have been no public filings in the case since January, when a magistrate judge ordered the government not to transfer Fiallos Manzanares out of New Mexico while the lawsuit is ongoing. Immigration advocates have called for action to release him from detention.
Immigration advocates estimate there were 525,000 DACA recipients in the U.S. as of March 2025.. The American Immigration Council estimates there are more than 50,000 DACA-eligible residents in Florida alone.
DACA has come under fire during both of President Donald Trump's terms. Trump attempted to terminate DACA during his first term, but the move was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. Now during Trump's second term, the Department of Homeland Security has detained at least 270 DACA recipients nationwide who should have legal status in the U.S., according to immigrant rights coalition Home is Here.
Home is Here maintains an online tracker with photos and names of DACA recipients currently held in ICE custody. People on the list include residents from California to Massachusetts, and from Arizona to Florida.
Immigration advocates, attorneys and DACA recipients themselves have long complained that the program is only a short-term solution leaving people who have lived in the U.S. longer than they ever lived in their home country in a sort of legal limbo. Congress has failed to pass legislation creating a pathway for Dreamers to pursue legal status. Now, those in limbo fear detention and deportation.
