200,000 Mexican "Dreamers" at Risk of Deportation
mexicosolidarity.com
Changes and delays in procedures implemented by the Trump administration put them at risk, according to Mexico's External Relations Secretariat.

This article by Roxana González originally appeared in the May 27, 2026 edition of El Sol de México.

Some 200,000 Mexican Dreamers are at risk of deportation due to changes and delays in procedures implemented by the Donald Trump administration, according to estimates from the Secretariat of External Relations, based on information gathered from the consular network in the United States.

Dreamers are young migrants who came to the United States as children and have taken advantage of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, created under the government of Barack Obama, which allows them to legally live in that country.

During his first term, Trump sought to end the program, but the Supreme Court blocked him. Now, after his return to the White House, he has eliminated access to health insurance and educational assistance for beneficiaries. Furthermore, due to delays in the renewal process by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, many have lost their work permits and, consequently, their jobs.

According to the agency, headed by Roberto Velasco, there are approximately 200,000 Mexican nationals, out of the estimated 568,000 currently living in the United States, who are Dreamers who have not been able to renew their permits or whose permits are about to expire, which would place them as undocumented immigrants with the possibility of being deported.

For Ana María Rivera, a lawyer specializing in U.S. immigration law, a possible return of DACA beneficiaries to Mexico would pose adaptation challenges for young people who, although of Mexican origin, made their lives in the United States and could face difficulties in building support networks or quickly entering the Mexican labour market.

According to the expert, who handles cases on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, although current permits have not been automatically canceled, the Trump administration is pressuring Dreamers by tightening their living conditions to eventually force them to leave the country. “The program alone is no longer a valid argument to prevent deportation, and that has become a precedent that worries many,” Rivera said.

According to figures from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), between January and September 2025 , the United States deported 174 people who were renewing their protection from deportation under DACA, a third of whom were Mexican. In addition, another 270 beneficiaries of various nationalities were arrested during that same period.

Also, in a statement last January, the Department of Homeland Security reported that, between the end of September and mid-November of last year, 73 additional beneficiaries of the DACA program were arrested by ICE, bringing the total number of dreamers detained throughout almost all of 2025 to 343.

The argument that immigration authorities gave was that most had criminal records, although there are reports that some arrests were due to minor infractions.

Given the increased raids by ICE, Rivera recommends keeping DACA documents up to date and seeking authorized legal advice in case of any risk of arrest, although this involves a cost that many of her compatriots had not considered.

““The protection that DACA offers against deportation proceedings has become more fragile and less predictable for many young people who until now felt relatively protected; uncertainty is growing, so it is important to be informed and, above all, protected”,” says Ana María Rivera, a lawyer specializing in US immigration law.

In Mexico, the return of Dreamers, according to the External Relations Secretariat, would impact most of the states of the Republic, but in recent years it has been concentrated in Mexico City, where a community of around 200 deported dreamers resides who have made their way with Mexican-American food businesses, hairdressers and even English schools.

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