USCIS Backlog Leaves DACA Renewals Pending Over 4 Months as Dreamers Lose Work Authorization
Updated
Updated · POLITICO · Jun 21
USCIS Backlog Leaves DACA Renewals Pending Over 4 Months as Dreamers Lose Work Authorization
3 articles · Updated · POLITICO · Jun 21
Summary
TheDream.US said USCIS's swelling DACA renewal backlog is now causing some recipients to lose protection and work eligibility while their cases sit unprocessed.
More than four months would be needed to clear the queue, the group projected, after approvals kept falling since fall 2025 and waits stretched well beyond the roughly two months renewals once took.
Doug Rand, a former Biden-era USCIS adviser, said the slowdown amounts to an end run around court orders blocking an outright shutdown of DACA, though another former official said broader immigration processing has also slowed.
USCIS said it is applying tougher screening and vetting, while stressing DACA does not itself grant legal status and citing a DACA recipient now facing deportation after criminal adjudication.