From January to November 2025 Immigration detained 261 DACA recipients and deported 86
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, February 26, 2026
Media Contacts
press@homeishere.us
Washington, D.C. – In a response to a letter from U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), the Department of Homeland Security admitted that in less than a year, ICE detained 261 DACA recipients. That same letter details the deportation of 86 DACA recipients, despite the protections from detention and deportation that the DACA program affords.
This latest groundbreaking news comes while the DACA program is still being actively attacked in courts, with efforts in Texas to sever DACA recipients’ access to work permits. This latest information is the first admission through government data of the alarming rise in DACA recipients with valid status being targeted and detained by federal immigration agents from ICE and CBP across the country. It also comes while the federal government continues to pressure DACA recipients to self-deport.
Last year, the Home Is Here campaign released a tracker detailing the stories of the DACA recipients and immigrant youth who have been targeted for detention and deportation.
The Home is Here Campaign issued the following statement:
“We have known the stories of the DACA recipients who have been targets of detention and deportation by this administration, but this latest revelation from DHS is deeply troubling. It’s clear that the full breadth of their refusal to follow the law as it pertains to the DACA program and the deportation protections it enshrines wasn’t known until now. In less than one year, this administration has detained 261 DACA recipients, and deported 86 DACA recipients, acting with reckless abandon, and ignoring what has for more than a decade been sacred, the right of DACA recipients to be protected from detention and deportation. This revelation must be a brutal wake up call to Congress that they must act now to protect DACA recipients by delivering permanent protections and long overdue stability to the hundreds of thousands of DACA recipients contributing to our economy and country.”
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The Home Is Here national coalition is fighting to protect DACA recipients, their families, and all immigrant communities at the U.S. Supreme Court. DACA recipients are undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children. They are also our nurses, our teachers, our coworkers, our family members, and our friends — and their home is here. For more information visit HomeIsHere.Us