Justice Department Moves To Make DACA Deportations Easier After BIA Precedent Decision

The U.S. Justice Department moved to make it easier to deport immigrants protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, after the Board of Immigration Appeals issued a precedent decision published Friday.

“Justice Department makes it easier to deport those with DACA status The Trump administration is making it easier to deport immigrants protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA”

NPR

NPR reports that a three-judge panel of appellate immigration judges sided with Department of Homeland Security lawyers who appealed a decision from immigration judge Michael Pleters terminating removal proceedings for Catalina "Xóchitl" Santiago, citing Santiago's active DACA status.

NPR

The panel sent the case back to a different immigration judge for review, while NPR emphasized that the decision “potentially weakens DACA protections for hundreds of thousands of others.”

The Washington Times similarly described the ruling as ending any automatic block, saying the BIA “ordered immigration judges to weigh all the factors in a deportation case, going beyond the mere fact that a migrant had been granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.”

VPM’s account matched the core procedural outcome, stating that the BIA “sent the case back to a different immigration judge for review” even though “Although the decision does not mean Santiago will be immediately deported.”

In the Washington Times framing, the BIA overturned a lower judge’s approach that treated DACA as dispositive, and it did so by directing immigration judges to consider more than DACA status alone.

The decision’s practical effect, as described across the three sources, is that DACA recipients now face a more complicated deportation process rather than a status-based presumption against removal.

Catalina "Xóchitl" Santiago’s case became a national focal point after Customs and Border Protection detained her while she was boarding a domestic flight at the El Paso airport in August, according to NPR.

NPR says she was placed in immigration detention until a federal judge granted her release last October, and that she has been fighting the threat of deportation in the immigration court system since.

NPR

VPM’s version likewise ties the case’s attention to her detention by Customs and Border Protection officers while boarding a domestic flight at the El Paso airport in August, and it repeats that she remained in immigration detention until a federal judge granted her release last October.

The Washington Times adds additional detail about her background, stating that Santiago came to the U.S. at age 8 and was part of the initial wave of DACA recipients in 2012.

It also says her status had been renewed every couple of years, with the most recent grant lasting through this month, and it describes her argument that DACA was a bargain with the government that meant she wouldn’t be targeted for deportation as long as she complied with the program’s rules.

In the Washington Times account, the immigration judge agreed with that position and terminated her deportation case, and the federal district judge ordered her released from immigration detention in October.

NPR, meanwhile, describes the BIA’s procedural handling after the lower judge’s termination, saying the BIA order is “technically known as an interim decision” and that it sent the case back to a different immigration judge for review.

The BIA interim decision also addressed a dispute over whether immigration judge Michael Pleters should have been recused, according to NPR.

“HavingDACAstatus is no longer an automatic blockade on being deported, theBoard of Immigration Appealshas ruled, tossing hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrant “Dreamers” into a new and more complicated situation”

Washington Times

NPR says the BIA order notes that DHS argued Pleters “should be recused from the case because he is married to Democratic Rep. Veronica Escobar of Texas,” and that Escobar has been outspoken about DACA issues on Capitol Hill and whose district includes El Paso.

NPR adds that neither Pleters nor Escobar are identified by name in the interim order, and it reports that the BIA did not sustain DHS’ appeal on that recusal argument.

Instead, NPR says the BIA stated that “the Immigration Judge erred” by basing his decision to terminate removal proceedings solely on Santiago's DACA status.

The Washington Times quotes the reasoning in more direct language, saying the BIA opinion wrote that “The immigration judge erred in terminating removal proceedings based solely on the fact that the respondent has been accordedDACAprotection and without considering the reasons for any opposition to termination.”

VPM’s account likewise describes the BIA’s approach as moving beyond DACA status alone, stating that “being a DACA recipient is not enough reason to provide relief from deportation.”

Together, the sources depict a shift in the legal framing: DACA status is no longer treated as dispositive, and immigration judges must weigh additional factors in deportation cases.

The ruling drew criticism from advocates and lawmakers in the sources, with NPR foregrounding a response from United We Dream.

NPR quotes Juliana Macedo do Nascimento, deputy director of Advocacy and Campaigns at United We Dream, saying, “For over a decade, DACA has endured relentless, politically motivated attacks,” and adding, “This decision is yet another step in dismantling the program without the government taking responsibility for ending it outright. ... This is a quiet rollback of protections, and our communities are paying the price in real time.”

NPR

The Washington Times reports that the BIA ruling drew denunciation from Sen. Richard Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, describing his reaction as calling it “heartless” and saying it should prompt Congress to pass legislation givingDACArecipients firmer legal standing.

Durbin is quoted as saying, “This is a matter of simple American fairness and justice,” in the Washington Times account.

VPM does not add new quotes from Durbin or other lawmakers, but it repeats the NPR-style advocacy framing by including the same United We Dream quote from Juliana Macedo do Nascimento.

NPR also includes a description of how the BIA decision fits into broader Trump administration steps, saying Friday’s order is “the latest step by the Trump administration to strip away protections from DACA recipients.”

NPR reports that DHS did not respond to an immediate request for comment on whether active DACA recipients are at risk of removal.

Beyond Santiago’s case, NPR and VPM describe the decision as part of a wider effort to reduce DACA protections and reshape immigration court outcomes.

“The Trump administration is making it easier to deport immigrants protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA”

VPM

NPR says DACA was created in 2012 to protect children who arrived in the country illegally prior to 2007 from deportation, and it reports that the program now covers “around half a million people.”

NPR

NPR also states that participants must renew their protection every two years, and it says starting last year, DHS officials began urging DACA recipients to self- deport, arguing that the program itself does not equate to automatically providing legal status.

NPR further reports that this second Trump administration has tried to strip 505,000 DACA recipients, also known as Dreamers, of benefits, while adding that “no regulatory changes have been made to end the program.”

It also notes that last year the Department of Health and Human Services said it would make DACA recipients ineligible for the federal health care marketplace, and that the Education Department said it was looking into five universities that offer financial help for DACA recipients.

In a letter to senators earlier this year, then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that between January and November of last year, 261 DACA recipients were arrested and 86 were removed from the country, and NPR quotes Noem writing, “It comes with no right or entitlement to remain in the United States indefinitely.”

VPM repeats many of these same figures and adds a structural detail, stating that “Immigration courts are housed within the Executive Office for Immigration Review, or EOIR, at the Justice Department. They are not a part of the judiciary.”