On April 25, 2026, the Board of Immigration Appeals — an administrative court inside the Department of Justice — issued a ruling that sounds technical but carries an explosive payload: being a DACA recipient is not, by itself, enough reason for an immigration judge to terminate your deportation proceedings. The case involved Catalina “Xóchitl” Santiago, a DACA holder whose removal proceedings were terminated by immigration judge Michael Pleters specifically because she had active DACA status. DHS lawyers appealed. Three BIA judges sided with DHS and sent the case back to a different judge.
What the Ruling Actually Says.
The BIA didn’t say Santiago will be deported. It said the immigration judge made an error by basing his decision to stop her removal solely on her DACA status. The three-judge panel wrote that DACA “comes with no right or entitlement to remain in the United States indefinitely.” In other words: DACA is just a piece of paper that says we won’t deport you right now. It doesn’t mean we can’t start the paperwork to deport you eventually.
This is a precedent decision, which means it applies to every immigration court in the country. Every immigration judge now knows that granting relief to a Dreamer simply because they have DACA is no longer defensible. The door that was closed — or at least heavy — just got kicked open.
“It comes with no right or entitlement to remain in the United States indefinitely.” — Board of Immigration Appeals, Santiago decision
The Quiet Demolition of DACA.
This administration hasn’t formally ended DACA. They haven’t issued new regulations. They haven’t gone through the rulemaking process that courts have previously required. Instead, they’ve done something more insidious: they’ve weaponized the adjudication process itself. The BIA is inside the DOJ. Its judges are appointed by the Attorney General. When you control the appeals board, you don’t need to change the law — you just need to change how it’s interpreted.
The Santiago ruling is part of a broader pattern. The BIA under this administration has also made it harder for immigrants to get bond, easier to deport people to countries other than their own, and is currently considering a regulation that would make it harder to appeal immigration decisions at all. Stack enough of these together and DACA becomes protection in name only — a card that says “deferred action” while the government builds the machinery to act anyway.
505,000 People. No Path. No Plan.
DACA was created in 2012 by the Obama administration to protect people who were brought to the United States as children before 2007. Most were too young to have any say in the decision. Many have lived in the U.S. for decades. They went to American schools, got American jobs, paid American taxes. There are approximately 505,000 active recipients. They have work permits. They have Social Security numbers. Some have American-born children. And now, per this ruling, their protection from deportation is functionally worth less than it was on April 24.
Congress has had 14 years to pass a permanent solution. They haven’t. The Dream Act has been introduced and killed more times than anyone can count. Both parties have used Dreamers as political leverage — Republicans to extract border concessions, Democrats to campaign on promises they never deliver. And now the BIA has handed Trump’s DHS a tool to start picking Dreamers off one by one, without changing a single law, without a single congressional vote, without a single headline until it’s too late.
Santiago wasn’t deported. Her case was sent back to a different immigration judge. But the precedent is set: immigration judges can no longer dismiss removal cases just because someone has DACA. DHS can now pursue deportation proceedings against any DACA recipient, and the recipient’s DACA status alone won’t save them. The floodgate didn’t open today — but the lock just got removed.
Sources.
- LAist: Justice Department makes it easier to deport those with DACA status — April 25, 2026. BIA three-judge panel reversed immigration judge Pleters; Santiago case; precedent decision affecting all immigration courts; DHS lawyers appealed original termination.
- CBS News: Federal judge again declares DACA immigration program unlawful — Updated April 2026. Context on DACA’s legal history; 505,000 active recipients; multiple court challenges; program created 2012 for pre-2007 arrivals.
- American Immigration Lawyers Association: BIA Santiago Decision Analysis — April 2026. Legal analysis of the BIA’s precedent decision; implications for DACA holders in removal proceedings; “comes with no right or entitlement to remain indefinitely.”