Immigrant-rights group urges DACA recipients to renew work permits before next Trump presidency

California’s largest immigrant rights organization is calling on DACA-recipients to renew their federally issued work permits now in anticipation of possible cuts to immigration services after President-elect Donald Trump returns to office.

The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights Los Angeles, a nonprofit that offers immigration legal services, is urging so-called Dreamers to renew work authorizations in light of Trump’s stated plans to phase out the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allowed people brought to the U.S. as children to receive temporary protected immigration status.

“We just really have to be ready for anything,” said Karla Aguayo, the organization’s director of legal services. “But we also have to be realistic. And though the hysteria right now is mass deportations, even that has a process. People are due their due process rights.”

Trump has promised the largest deportation effort in American history, which is causing fear, frustration and anxiety among the hundreds of thousands of unauthorized immigrants living in the greater L.A. area.

As of March 2023, about 70,000 people with active DACA status lived in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metro area, according to USC Dornsife’s most recent State of Immigrants in LA County report.

Aguayo said immigration services were “severely understaffed” during the first Trump term, which led to long delays in paperwork processing. By renewing work permits now, DACA recipients can ensure they’re valid for the next two years.

The organization is also urging green card holders to apply for naturalization. During Trump’s first term, backlogs for citizenship were over a year long, Aguayo said.

The process

A work permit allows DACA recipients to be legally employed for a two-year period. They are issued by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and can be renewed as long as the DACA program exists.

The application for employment authorization documents cost $410 and the federal government encourages people to file renewals between 120 and 150 days prior to expiration.

United We Dream, a youth-led nonprofit for immigrants headquartered in Washington, D.C., has step-by-step instructions for renewing DACA and work authorizations.

What CHIRLA can do

Aguayo said the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights L.A. screens clients to make sure they are eligible for DACA — and checks to see whether an individual might have a better path to legal status. The organization helps clients complete the appropriate forms for DACA work permits and submits them on the client’s behalf.

Most submissions also come with legal representation to help DACA-recipients with any follow up that is required.

Other local nonprofits offering immigration legal services include the Central American Resource Center of Los Angeles and Access California Services.

LAist spoke to a DACA-recipient — he gave only his first name, Javier — who said he worries every day about what losing DACA would mean for him and his family. One big concern is that if DACA is phased out, he won’t be able to keep his job, which helps support his mother and siblings.

He said he took the coalition’s advice to renew his work permit now.

“I have my friends, my family here. And if he [Trump] decides to eliminate everything, all that is going to be gone in one second,” he said.