ICE Is Snatching DACA Recipients and Locking Them Up Longer Than Ever

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was supposed to offer a shield to young immigrants who grew up in the United States. Instead, under the Trump administration, it has become a trap. ICE is detaining DACA recipients in alarming numbers, often for months, and making it harder than ever to get out.

Take Leticia’s family, for example. She has lived in the U.S. since she was 15 and holds DACA status renewed through 2028. Yet her brother Orlando, also a DACA recipient, has been stuck in ICE custody for nearly five months, waiting anxiously for his permit renewal. Their parents and another brother were deported after being detained. Leticia hasn’t even dared visit Orlando in detention, fearing she could be next.

This is not an isolated case. Hundreds of DACA recipients—some with no criminal records—have been swept into ICE’s dragnet. NOTUS identified 21 legal challenges filed since January 2025 contesting the detention of immigrants with active or pending DACA status. The administration’s own numbers are inconsistent and contradictory. Former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem claimed 270 DACA holders were detained and 174 deported last year, while ICE told Senator Dick Durbin the figures were 261 and 86, respectively.

DHS insists that 92% of detained DACA recipients had criminal records, but attorneys say many detainees have no serious convictions. The government’s stance that DACA “does not confer any form of legal status” is a cruel technicality used to justify arrests and deportations. Typically, DACA recipients lose their protections only after serious crimes. Now, the line blurs.

Recent high-profile cases highlight the administration’s ruthless approach. A DACA recipient deported to Mexico was ordered back to the U.S. by a federal court. Another was detained while bringing milk to his premature baby in a hospital. Meanwhile, legal advocates say it’s become nearly impossible to secure release from ICE custody. Starting in July, ICE mandated detention without bond hearings for all unauthorized immigrants, including DACA recipients.

Some detainees are turning to federal courts for habeas corpus petitions, seeking relief outside the immigration court system, which is stacked against them. New Jersey attorney Veronica Cardenas explains that federal judges offer the only chance for fairness, as immigration judges are beholden to the Justice Department and can be removed on a whim.

Sebastian Flores, a DACA recipient from Peru who grew up in New York, spent nearly two months in one of the deadliest detention centers in Texas, crammed into a dormitory with 70 bunk beds and scarce hygiene supplies. He feared deportation and felt abandoned. His release came only after a federal judge ordered ICE to provide a bond hearing.

Flores’ story is a stark example of the human cost behind the administration’s crackdown. The trauma of indefinite detention, family separations, and the constant threat of deportation is devastating a generation that was promised protection. The Trump administration’s erosion of DACA is not just a policy failure—it is a moral crisis that tears at the fabric of American justice and humanity.