ORLANDO, FLA. — Orlando special education teacher Melani Candia lost her job in early April 2026 after her Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals renewal deadline passed without a decision from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. By the end of April, USCIS reported that the majority of DACA renewal requests were being completed within about 122 days, the longest median wait time since 2016.

For more than a decade, Candia's biennial DACA renewal applications had been approved. Processing delays caused her to miss her latest renewal deadline, costing her work authorization and her teaching position.

"Fear has become my new baseline," Candia said. "But now, having a new level of vulnerability, it was a very quick increase in the fear," she added, describing concerns about detention.

From October 2025 through the end of February 2026, the median wait time for DACA renewals was about 70 days, compared with about 15 days in fiscal year 2025. In 2016, the median wait time was about 79 days. The agency's data did not include 2020 because of the pandemic. DHS attributed the 2016 delays to technical issues during its transition to fully processing DACA renewals in its electronic immigration system. The 122-day figure reported at the end of April 2026 represented a two-week increase from the time listed earlier that month.

"Under the leadership of President Trump, USCIS is safeguarding the American people by more thoroughly screening and vetting all aliens, which can lengthen processing times," agency spokesperson Zach Kahler said. USCIS recommends applying for DACA renewal 120 to 150 days before an existing authorization lapses.

When renewal requests exceed their deadlines without decisions, beneficiaries lose work authorization, often lose their driver's licenses, and their ability to stay in the U.S. is at risk. The program has more than 500,000 beneficiaries.

U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla is one of dozens of lawmakers who sent letters to federal agencies questioning the increased wait times and whether people who missed their renewal deadlines are being targeted for arrest or deportation. "The delays that people are concerned about used to be sort of a matter of weeks at a time. Now it's from a few months to many, many months," Padilla said.

DACA grants qualified individuals two-year renewable permits to live and work in the U.S. without conferring legal status but offering protection from deportation. Since the program's introduction in 2012, it has faced legal challenges, including two cases that reached the Supreme Court. A 2025 federal court decision halted processing of first-time DACA applications while allowing renewals to continue. USCIS also paused processing renewal requests for people from dozens of countries described as "high-risk" in recent policy memorandums following presidential proclamations. The National Immigration Law Center estimated that as many as 3,000 to 4,000 DACA beneficiaries could be impacted by that pause.