DHS is urging DACA recipients to self-deport
Source: NPR
July 29, 2025 5:00 AM ET
The Trump administration is shifting its tone on how it handles immigrants brought to the U.S. as children under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Also known as DACA, the program was created in 2012 to protect children who arrived in the country illegally prior to 2007 from deportation.
In recent months, the administration has tried to strip 525,000 DACA recipients, also known as Dreamers, of benefits, although no regulatory changes have been made to end the program.
For example, the Health and Human Services Department said it would make DACA recipients ineligible for the federal healthcare marketplace in June. Then last week, the Education Department said it was looking into five universities that offer financial help for DACA recipients. Also, immigration enforcement officers have arrested and detained DACA recipients throughout the country, which immigrant advocates said weakens protections of this group.
"Illegal aliens who claim to be recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) are not automatically protected from deportations," DHS assistant press secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to NPR. "DACA does not confer any form of legal status in this country." McLaughlin added that any DACA recipient may be subject to arrest and deportation for a number of reasons, including if they've committed a crime. McLaughlin then urged recipients to self-deport.
Read more: https://www.npr.org/2025/07/29/nx-s1-5482923/dhs-daca-recipients-self-deport

lamp_shade
(15,258 posts)ret5hd
(21,646 posts)dickthegrouch
(4,087 posts)Does anyone know what the differences (consequences) are between "Self deportation" and "Voluntary departure"?
I've heard that simply leaving the country without documentation amounts to self deportation, and triggers some of the same consequences as court ordered deportation, but there's no solid advice that I've found to help people navigate the complexities.
What is the right way to document any departure so that ICE or the courts know it has occurred?
SickOfTheOnePct
(8,201 posts)...but I don't know what another process might be.
riversedge
(76,810 posts)I fear that-in the end, they don't have much of a chance --not with Trump and his cruel folks in charge.
Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández
@RepTeresaLF
·
12m
🚨 The Trump administration just told Dreamers to self-deport.
DACA recipients are our neighbors, our nurses, our teachers, our engineers.
These are good people. Theyve followed the rules. Theyve paid their taxes. Theyve built lives and families here. Telling them to leave is telling them to abandon the only home theyve ever known.
To urge them to self-deport is cruel, senseless, and un-American.
We stand with Dreamers today, tomorrow, and every day. We must give them the permanent protections and pathway to citizenship they deserve.
Link to tweet
sakabatou
(45,133 posts)Solly Mack
(95,376 posts)Cruel pieces of filth.
kimbutgar
(25,662 posts)This administration is hellish and didnt the work of the devil !
I wish we could have a Superman to use a right wing fatal kyponite on them and send them to hell!
LudwigPastorius
(13,037 posts)I guess there's nothing more 'American Dream"-like than staying in school, working hard, keeping out of trouble, and still getting fucked by the government.
These people didn't make the choice to come to this country. And, they went out of their way to obey the law - even paying $500 and filling out forms to enter the DACA program - yet they'll still be deported to a land that few of them even remember.
rickyhall
(5,331 posts)perdita9
(1,284 posts)So the media pundits keep telling us.