A recent comment from a federal official urging some DACA recipients to \u201cself\u2011deport\u201d has sparked fear and uncertainty among thousands of families in Texas \u2014 home to one of the largest DACA populations in the country.<\/p>\n
Texas has an estimated 90,000 people enrolled in DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, including roughly 27,000 in the Houston area, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. <\/p>\n
The program offers temporary protection from deportation and a work permit to immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, but it does not provide a pathway to citizenship and must be renewed every two years.<\/p>\n
From Belize to Houston \u2014 and a new life<\/b><\/p>\n
For Houston resident Lisbeth Avila, DACA is more than just a program \u2014 it\u2019s the foundation that allowed her to build her life.<\/p>\n
Avila was born in Belize and came to the United States for the first time when she was just three years old. Her father fled the country due to religious persecution. The family tried returning to Belize briefly, but when Lisbeth was five, they came back to the U.S. and stayed for good.<\/p>\n
She says coming here wasn\u2019t her choice \u2014 it was a decision her parents made to protect their family.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a child, you follow your parents. You don\u2019t have a choice about where you\u2019re born or whether you stay. This is the only home I\u2019ve ever known.\u201d<\/p>\n
She didn\u2019t realize she wasn\u2019t a U.S. citizen until she was older, when she tried to travel with her school and her father told her she couldn\u2019t. Four of Lisbeth\u2019s older siblings were also born in Belize, while her younger brothers and sisters were born in the U.S.<\/p>\n
What DACA changed<\/b><\/p>\n
Before applying for DACA, Lisbeth says her job options were limited to side work or staying home with her children. Once she received approval, it opened doors she never thought possible.<\/p>\n
She went back to school, enrolled full\u2011time at a community college, and secured an office job. Eventually, she took out her first car loan, bought a new vehicle, and later started her own landscaping business.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt gave me the opportunity to do more for myself, my family, and my community,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Fear after \u201cself\u2011deportation\u201d comment<\/b><\/p>\n
That sense of stability has been shaken. Recently, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said DACA recipients are not automatically protected from deportation and encouraged people in the country illegally to leave and try to return through legal channels.<\/p>\n
For Lisbeth, the comment was personal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been raised here\u2026 Just sending me somewhere where I know nothing about \u2014 I know all the rules here. My kids are from here \u2014 would they have to stay? Would they be separated from me? That would be a major change for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Family separation this year<\/b><\/p>\n
Lisbeth\u2019s concerns aren\u2019t hypothetical. Earlier this year, her mother \u2014 who had legal documents to remain in the U.S. until the end of December \u2014 was deported after being wrongfully accused of a crime.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven after she was proven innocent, she was still punished,\u201d Lisbeth said. \u201cThat\u2019s not the country I was raised to believe in.\u201d<\/p>\n
What the law says and what recipients can do<\/b><\/p>\n
Immigration attorney Molly Full says active DACA recipients cannot be deported unless their status is revoked \u2014 usually for committing certain crimes \u2014 but she warns mistakes do happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen someone is here on DACA, they cannot be deported while it\u2019s still active\u2026 You\u2019re not at risk of deportation unless it\u2019s revoked. Telling someone to self\u2011deport is just to scare people to leave,\u201d Full said.<\/p>\n
Full advises recipients to:<\/p>\n
Renew early<\/b> \u2014 about six months before expiration<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Avoid any legal trouble<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Seek legal advice to explore other immigration options, such as family\u2011based petitions, humanitarian relief, or visas for victims of crimes<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Hoping for understanding<\/b><\/p>\n Lisbeth says she hopes sharing her story will show people the human side of the debate.<\/p>\n \u201cThis isn\u2019t just going to disturb my life \u2014 it\u2019s going to disturb my kids\u2019 lives, and it affects so many people. I hope people can be more humane and understand that these are real lives being affected.\u201d<\/p>\n Breaking News Alerts<\/p>\n More Stories Like This In Our Email Newsletter<\/p>\n Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A recent comment from a federal official urging some DACA recipients to \u201cself\u2011deport\u201d has sparked fear and uncertainty…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":122190,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[75716,4345,5410,409,425,50,80,358,277,3187],"class_list":{"0":"post-122189","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-daca","9":"tag-houston","10":"tag-ice","11":"tag-immigration","12":"tag-local","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-politics","15":"tag-texas","16":"tag-trump","17":"tag-tx"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114978887230667963","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}