A San Diego mental health therapist lost one of their jobs after their DACA expired while they wait for a renewal, as recipients nationwide face longer processing times that threaten their ability to work and their protection from deportation.

“I do what I’m supposed to do, right? And the constant question is like, ‘Why don’t you… try to get your residency and all that? Well, it’s not easy. It’s not easy,” said Em, who asked NBC 7 not to identify them further over concerns for their safety.

“The system isn’t really built that way,” Em continued, “and you can do all the things that you’re told to do and, you know, follow all the rules, but it doesn’t – it feels like it doesn’t matter at the end of the day.”

Em is undocumented, brought to the U.S. from Mexico at age 3 and raised in Southern California. They’ve had DACA for almost a decade, since they were eligible.

DACA stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the program created in 2012 for people brought to the U.S. as children, to shield them from deportation and provide work authorization. Recipients must renew every two years and be in good standing, with no criminal history.

Em submitted to renew in February, four months before their DACA was set to expire on June 17. That renewal has usually taken just a few weeks, Em said, but this year, the deadline came and went with still no word.

“I knew that this day was coming,” Em said. “It just sucks.”

The median processing time for a DACA renewal last year was about two weeks, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency that processes those applications. It’s since grown to nearly three months.

“Under the leadership of President Trump, USCIS is safeguarding the American people by more thoroughly screening and vetting all aliens,” USCIS Spokesman Zach Kahler said in a statement, adding, “DACA does not confer any form of legal status in this country.”

Em got their master’s degree in San Diego and stayed in the city to work two jobs as a mental health therapist. One of Em’s workplaces said they would hold Em’s job until they received their DACA renewal, while the other gave Em a two-week grace period after the expiration before they would move on.

“They were like, ‘I don’t know if it’s going to make you feel better, but we did have to let someone go last week because of a similar situation to you,’” Em recounted, “and to me, I was like, ‘How is that supposed to make me feel better?’”

“It just makes me feel very, like, disposable,” Em added.

And without DACA, Em and others technically have no protection from detention or deportation.

“That dawned on me last week and I was like, ‘Oh, I need to be extra careful,’” Em said. “It kind of feels dystopian.”

For those overseeing the system, Em had a message.

“This isn’t a game. It’s not a game. It’s people’s livelihoods,” Em said. “It’s angering, and there’s a lot of injustice happening.”