As delays in processing for DACA renewals cause some recipients to lose their jobs and protection from deportation while they wait, one San Diego woman’s status was just renewed eight months after she applied – and only after her member of Congress saw her story and intervened. Beth was broug ht to the U.S. from Mexico at the age of 1 and grew up in San Marcos. She asked to withhold her last name out of concern for her safety. “We’re not criminals,” Beth said. “We didn’t choose this life for ourselves. We’re truly just trying to make the best out of our situation.” As a teen years ago, Beth applied for and was granted DACA, which stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. Then-President Barack Obama created the program in 2012 to give people brought to the U.S. as children – often known as “Dreamers” – work authorization and protection from enforcement. DACA recipients must be employed, in school or the military, and remain in good standing, renewing every two years, paying hundreds of dollars in application fees as well as submitting biometrics and a criminal background check as part of the process. Lately, delays in processing times for those renewals have stretched much longer than in previous years. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services says the average wait time as of May was about 2.8 months, compared to two weeks the prior year. But many recipients have reported waiting six months or more, even stretching beyond a year. In some cases, their DACA expires as they wait, meaning they lose their ability to work, their jobs, and any sort of protection. “My previous employer was really helpful,” Beth said. She worked in interior design, staging luxury homes for many celebrities, but lost her job when her DACA expired in February. It’s since been filled. 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That caught the attention on Rep. Scott Peters, who represents her, and his office took on her case. “We wrote a lot of letters, and we advocated, and we finally got that turned back on,” Peters said. “But it shouldn’t be that way.” Three weeks after Beth’s story aired, she checked her case status online and discovered her DACA renewal had been approved. “I was so happy,” she said, laughing as she recalled the moment she found out. “I was so happy because I’m so ready to get back to work. I’m so ready to kind of restart my life. I’m so ready to not have as much anxiety, worry about everything. I’m ready to kind of just, not say pick up where I left off, because that’s not really possible in general, but just kind of start something new again.” Beth said she’s now looking for a job. “Six months of not working, that’s a huge time frame in the design world. Things move so fast, trends move so quickly,” she said. “Right now, I feel so behind, right? Like I’m trying to catch up, when there should have been no reason for me to catch up.” After her status lapsed, Beth had been avoiding large events and even being in public out of fear of being detained. But now, she said her husband is a huge baseball fan and they’re excited to be able to go to a Padres game again. “If I do happen to encounter any immigration agent, I can show them my valid work permit, and I’m hoping that that is enough proof that I don’t get questioned anymore,” she said. “But at the same time, I know that that might not be enough proof. There’s still a little bit of anxiety.” Beth’s husband is a U.S. citizen and they’ve been in the process of adjusting her status, planning to apply for a green card. But she said even that is a strange feeling, in part because DACA itself provides no pathway to citizenship. “I’ve put all this effort into this country, so why can’t I do it myself? Why do I have to wait to be married to somebody?” she said through tears. “I put all the time, money, effort into my studies, into my career, so there should be a way for me to do it myself.” “I just think it’s heartbreaking,” Peters said, growing emotional himself. “It’s really, really tough to see these kids go through this.” “Nothing affects me like this really, in this job,” he continued, “because you feel kind of like they deserve better.” “We want to live normal, happy lives with our families and just be allowed to be here,” Beth said. For now, Peters said her victory in a sea of delays reminded him of an old story about a beach full of washed-up starfish. “You see a young girl throwing them in the ocean,” he recounted, “And people say, ‘Why are you wasting your time? You’ll never do it all, it doesn’t matter.’ And she says, ‘It mattered to that one.’” ...read more read less