It’s been six months since Claudia first applied to renew her US immigration status – a process that, for the last 14 years, would only take a few weeks.

But now, the prolonged delay has put her life on hold. Claudia, who moved to the US when she was four, has maintained legal status as a “Dreamer” with the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) program, which was created in 2012 to protect undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children from deportation.

In December, Claudia submitted her Daca renewal, as she is required to do every two years. Under the Trump administration, a process that typically takes just a few weeks has dragged on for months. The delay has meant years of work she put into her education and starting a career are now at risk because of the lapse in her work authorization.

“It feels like a personal attack,” said Claudia, who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation given her immigration status. “I renewed on time, completed my biometrics, followed every rule, but I’m still waiting to hear back.”

Cesar, who requested anonymity due to his immigration status, has also been in a six-month limbo over his Daca renewal. After he lost his job in HR, he has been selling burritos on the street to make up for the lost income and has been sharing his story online.

“I feel like I lose everything. We grew up here, we built a community here, and we built our lives here. I lost my dream job,” said Cesar, who moved to the US when he was four. “It’s been very hard, especially since I’m not making enough. I’m barely scraping by.”

The processing delays come at a time when Daca Dreamers are face growing hostility from the Trump administration. Hundreds of Daca holders have been arrested by federal immigration enforcement and several have been deported over the last year amid the White House’s broader immigration crackdown.

Though the White House has said it is targeting immigrants with criminal records, a Guardian analysis from earlier this year found 77% of people who entered deportation proceedings in 2025 had no criminal conviction.

More than 500,000 active Daca recipients reside in the US from nearly 200 different countries. To be eligible for the program, an individual must have entered and resided in the US before 15 June 2007, either in school or have a high school or equivalent degree, and no criminal record.

Donald Trump attempted to eliminate the Daca program during his first term, but was ultimately blocked by the supreme court in 2020. Despite the ruling, litigation against Daca is ongoing and the administration has remained focused on targeting program recipients through new work restrictions and processing delays, immigration advocates said.

“Daca delays are pushing recipients out of the workforce, jeopardizing the stability of working families, employers and local economies,” said Juliana Macedo do Nascimento, deputy director of advocacy and campaigns at United We Dream, an immigrant advocacy non-profit.

Along with the processing delays, the Trump administration recently proposed a new rule that would impose new work authorization restrictions on Daca holders, including a requirement that their employer be enrolled in using E-Verify. It also implemented a rule that prohibits Daca holders from obtaining commercial driver’s licenses.

Macedo do Nascimento said the new policies come as the administration carries out a “quiet unraveling of temporary programs across the board”, from Daca to humanitarian parole.

It’s “a mass delegalization effort to push out millions of people who have built careers, families, and homes here, and contribute billions to the US economy year after year”, Macedo do Nascimento said.

Claudia emphasized that Daca recipients grew up in the US and want to contribute to the economy.

“We’re just people trying to study and work,” she said. “We aren’t asking for special treatment, we just want a fair opportunity to keep moving forward.”

In a statement, Zach Kahler, a spokesperson for US Citizenship and Immigration Services, said that “Daca does not confer any form of legal status in this country” and that the agency “is safeguarding the American people by more thoroughly screening and vetting all aliens”.

Immigration advocates point out that lawmakers in Congress can support Daca recipients by passing the Dream Act, a bipartisan bill that would grant recipients with permanent residential status and a pathway to citizenship.

“The idea that people who have spent years contributing to their communities could lose everything because of bureaucratic delays and political attacks is both cruel and deeply damaging to America’s future,” said Gaby Pacheco, president and CEO of TheDream.US, a non-profit that offers scholarships to undocumented students. “What we are seeing right now is the slow unraveling of stability for hundreds of thousands of Dreamers who have done everything this country has asked of them.”

Cesar said that the process of waiting for his renewal had been an “emotional rollercoaster”, teetering between faith and overpowering stress.

“We have now lost our jobs, we have lost our security. We don’t feel safe being in public,” Cesar said. “We had reached the American Dream, but suddenly it vanished.”