Padilla, Schiff Join Cortez Masto, Durbin, Colleagues to Demand DHS Reduce Delays for DACA Renewals

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senators Alex Padilla, Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, and Adam Schiff (both D-Calif.) joined Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and 37 other Democratic Senators in demanding outgoing Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Joseph Edlow reduce the severe delays in processing renewal applications under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Created in 2012, DACA protects individuals who were brought to the United States as children from deportation and provides them with work authorization. Recipients across the country have recently experienced increasing delays under the Trump Administration in renewing their status.

The Senators also called attention to the increased risk of detention and deportation faced by DACA recipients when their renewal applications are not processed before their status expires. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem recently gave conflicting data to Congress - without any additional details - telling Padilla, Durbin, and Senator Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested 261 DACA recipients and removed 86 individuals from the country between January 1, 2025 and November 19, 2025. A separate DHS response to an inquiry from Representative Delia C. Ramirez (D-Ill.-03) stated that 270 DACA recipients had been arrested and 174 DACA applicants were removed from the United States in an even shorter timeframe, from January 1, 2025 to September 28, 2025. DACA recipients have legal protections against detention and deportation, and any attempt to remove these protections is unlawful.

"DACA has allowed hundreds of thousands of Dreamers an opportunity to pursue higher education and meaningful careers while remaining in the only home they have ever known," wrote the Senators. "Delays in processing DACA renewals are increasing the instability and uncertainty that DACA recipients already face. These delays can have profound consequences. When renewals are not processed before expiration, recipients lose employment authorization and, in many cases, their jobs. Employers experience workforce disruptions, including in sectors such as health care and education and in small businesses. Hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizen children have a parent with DACA, and when their work authorization lapses due to slow renewals, families endure heightened financial instability."

"DACA recipients contribute billions of dollars annually to the national economy and serve vital roles in our communities. Administrative delays in DACA renewals undermine not only individual stability but also broader economic resilience," concluded the Senators. "To reduce these disruptions and risks for DACA recipients, we urge you to reduce processing times for DACA renewal applications and reduce the volume of pending cases through timely renewals."

In addition to Padilla, Schiff, Cortez Masto, and Durbin, the letter was also signed by Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Kelly, Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Angus King (I-Maine), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), President Trump's nominee to replace Secretary Noem, also received a copy of this letter.

Senator Padilla is a leading voice in Congress for providing long-term undocumented immigrants with pathways to citizenship or permanent legal residence. Earlier this month, Padilla, Durbin, and Ramirez joined immigration advocates and experts from the Home is Here Campaign and a recently deported DACA recipient from Sacramento to renew their urgent call for the passage of the Dream Act to provide a permanent pathway to citizenship. Last month, Senators Padilla, Durbin, and Kelly blasted DHS for wrongfully targeting and removing DACA recipients in a joint statement. Padilla previously took to the Senate floor to defend DACA recipients from DHS' baseless claims and slam the Trump Administration's push for DACA recipients to "self-deport." He emphasized that these long-term residents - who were brought to the country as children - have been working, studying, and living legally in the United States since 2012 and are vital members of American communities.

Full text of the letter is available here and below:  

Dear Secretary Noem and Director Edlow:

We write to express serious concerns regarding delays in the processing of renewal applications under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Across the country, DACA recipients are reporting significant processing delays for their renewal applications. Many applicants who filed their renewals on time and in accordance with agency guidance are experiencing prolonged adjudication periods that extend beyond their current period of deferred action and employment authorization. We urge you to take all steps within your power to process renewal applications in a timely manner and protect the DACA recipients who rely on this program and who contribute so much to this country.

DACA has allowed hundreds of thousands of Dreamers an opportunity to pursue higher education and meaningful careers while remaining in the only home they have ever known. Delays in processing DACA renewals are increasing the instability and uncertainty that DACA recipients already face. These delays can have profound consequences. When renewals are not processed before expiration, recipients lose employment authorization and, in many cases, their jobs. Employers experience workforce disruptions, including in sectors such as health care and education and in small businesses. Hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizen children have a parent with DACA, and when their work authorization lapses due to slow renewals, families endure heightened financial instability.

Most concerningly, a lapse in DACA can result in an increased risk of being detained and even deported by federal immigration officials. Our offices have heard examples of constituents whose DACA has lapsed due to renewal delays being picked up by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). A DACA recipient whose only change of circumstance is a pending renewal application should not be at risk of their entire life being thrown into chaos due to indiscriminate immigration enforcement.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has also failed to provide clear notice as to policies or procedures that may be worsening this issue. For example, in helping our constituents address DACA renewal delays, some casework staff have been told that requests to expedite renewals will only be considered for recipients who work in the health care industry. While DACA health care workers are essential to the functioning of our local communities, they are by no means the only DACA recipients whose cases meet the agency's criteria to expedite a renewal.

Many casework staff have also been informed that USCIS has frozen DACA renewal processing for individuals from 39 countries subject to President Trump's national security proclamations. This decision, which has not been publicly announced, could indefinitely delay the DACA renewal of thousands of beneficiaries, subjecting them to potential detention and removal to countries where they did not grow up.

To better understand and address these concerns, we request detailed responses to the following questions:

1. What is the current average processing time for DACA renewal applications?

2. What steps is USCIS taking to ensure that timely filed renewal applicants do not experience lapses in employment authorization? What is the timeline for executing those steps?

3. What changes have been made to USCIS's policies, procedures, and guidance regarding DACA renewals since January 20, 2025?

4. What are USCIS's policies, procedures, and guidance regarding requests to expedite DACA renewals?

5. What steps does USCIS plan to take to ensure that renewals filed earlier than 150 days in advance of expiration are processed in a timely manner?

6. Does USCIS provide information to ICE regarding individuals' DACA expiration dates?

7. Does USCIS provide information to ICE regarding individuals' pending DACA renewals?

8. Does USCIS otherwise share information with ICE regarding DACA holders or facilitate the arrest, detention, or removal of DACA holders or individuals with renewals for DACA pending? If so, please describe this information sharing and/or facilitation in detail.

9. How many individuals with DACA renewal pending have been detained?

a. How many remain in immigration custody?

b. How many have been removed?

10. How many pending DACA renewals have been filed as of March 1, 2026 that are subject to the adjudicative hold for countries listed in Presidential Proclamations 10949 and 10998?

11. How many pending DACA renewals have been filed as of March 1, 2026, that are subject to any other adjudicative holds? Please provide the number per type of adjudicative hold.

DACA recipients contribute billions of dollars annually to the national economy and serve vital roles in our communities. Administrative delays in DACA renewals undermine not only individual stability but also broader economic resilience.

To reduce these disruptions and risks for DACA recipients, we urge you to reduce processing times for DACA renewal applications and reduce the volume of pending cases through timely renewals. We request a written response by April 17, 2026. Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter.

Sincerely,

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