Since leaving Mexico as teenagers, Giovanni Castillo and his wife Araceli Sanchez have created a life in the U.S. with protection under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA.
Now that a Texas judge who ruled the program illegal is once again considering the legality of the program, the family risks having to leave their life as they know it in the U.S. and be forced back to a country they only knew as children.
Castillo, a social worker and business administration graduate of St. Mary’s University, and local business owner Araceli Sanchez — both DACA recipients — since 2008 have held work permits and been protected from deportation, but they say they’ve always held their breath on a permanent solution and path to citizenship in the U.S.
“People sometimes say, why don’t you just become ‘legal?’ It’s not that easy. It’s not just, let me apply and they’ll give it [citizenship] to me,” Castillo said. “DACA is the only thing we have. There’s no other way. At least we can work and drive.”
In October 2022, a court case challenging the legality of the program was sent back to a lower court in Texas after a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the lower court that the implementation of DACA in 2012 was illegal. But the court kept the program in place for the time being, allowing recipients to renew their status, but preventing first-time applicants from applying.
The DACA program reached its 11th anniversary this month under threat by the courts.
The entire time, the Castillo family has tried to live a normal life for their teens, they say, who know their parents could be deported if protection under DACA is taken away. Their children, who were born in the U.S. would not face deportation under a change to DACA.
“We make plans, but not knowing what can happen. Knowing that as soon as they tell us we have to leave, we’ll leave everything,” Sanchez said. “But we can’t just do nothing.”
If DACA is ruled illegal, the Castillos and more than 95,000 Texas recipients will have no means of protection in the U.S.
Texas is home to 95,430 DACA recipients, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. In the San Antonio-New Braunfels area, there are 4,640 active DACA recipients.
“It’s like taking a risk,” Castillo said. “We have to keep going. You have to look for work, buy a house, buy your car, but you know that at some point you could lose it all.”
Castillo turned to look at his children, who are U.S. citizens. His daughter Isabella sat in a chair at the dinner table with a hand-stitched runner, her brother Giovanni standing behind her, leaning into his dad’s words.
Even if DACA is upheld, Castillo and Sanchez’s DACA status expires in less than two years. They can apply to renew, but if the program is ruled illegal, they and thousands of other DACA recipients will not have a protective status and will be at risk of deportation.
When he turns 21, their 17-year-old son Giovanni Castillo will be able to petition for his parents to become residents.
“The hardest thing is for them, they don’t know Mexico, what it’s like to live there. If there comes a day I say, ‘I have to go,’ they don’t know anything there,” he said about Jalisco, Mexico. “The area where I lived are places with cartels and assassins, you don’t have a normal life.”
This isn’t the first time DACA has been challenged. But closely following every twist and turn isn’t good for them or their kids, Castillo and Sanchez said. They try to tune out the news on DACA — good or bad — and just hope that they’ll have some way of knowing their life in the U.S. is forever.
San Antonio DACA recipients came to the U.S. as children, and they know no other life except for the one they have here, said U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-San Antonio).
“They are teachers in our schools, small business owners who create jobs, and the parents and spouses of U.S. citizens who rely on them. DACA gives them the chance to meaningfully participate in American society, but it was never meant to be a permanent fix to our broken immigration system,” he said.
Castro urged Congress to act quickly to give DACA recipients a path to citizenship.
On Friday, Castillo sat in his home office, where he works on cases of child abuse and neglect in Bexar County for the nonprofit Court Appointed Special Advocates, known as CASA. There’s paperwork scattered across the laptop on his desk and the floor. He said each stack of papers represents the children he visits as a social worker.
Sanchez owns a local cleaning business that employs a team of four people and cleans medical and corporate offices in San Antonio.
When they’re not working, the Castillos spend time on their ranch 20 minutes outside of San Antonio on the far West Side and enjoy their pets: two dogs, a cat, fish and chickens.
It took nearly a decade after they came to the U.S. for Castillo and Sanchez to receive DACA status. During that time, they had to save money for years to purchase property in cash, including homes and cars, he said.
“I think what matters the most is how our kids see us,” Sanchez said. “If they see we’re not OK, they’re not going to be OK. Until now, we’ve had to accept our situation and let them know everything’s going to be OK, whether we’re here or we have to leave.”
Although the possibility of leaving the U.S. is a harsh reality, the family hasn’t established roots in Mexico. They wouldn’t know where to pay a light bill or get a license plate, Castillo said.
With all the threats DACA has faced, they’ve even thought about moving to Canada, but the family put that plan on hold while hoping for the permanent solution to DACA. But they have a backup plan.
“We would sell the house, take what we can to Mexico and —” Castillo said; ” — start over,” Sanchez said.
Texas, along with Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Carolina, West Virginia, Kansas and Mississippi, are the states challenging DACA, claiming they lose millions of dollars in health care, education and other costs when immigrants are allowed to remain in the country through the program. Lawyers for the states ask that DACA be shut down within a four-year period after a final ruling.
Under DACA, the Castillos pay taxes. But they can’t vote and they can’t receive federal assistance like health care, financial aid, food stamps or social security. Every two years, they spend more than $500 to renew their DACA status. Castillo and Sanchez have renewed five times.
For now, a bipartisan group in Congress has re-introduced a possible fix to the limbo with the American Dream and Promise Act.
The bill passed the House in March, and if implemented, would provide conditional permanent resident status for 10 years to anyone who entered the United States as a minor, has deferred enforced departure status or temporary protected status.
To be eligible, they must have continuously been physically present in the United States since January 1, 2021, pass a background check, and be enrolled in or have completed certain educational programs.
“I’ve dreamed since long ago to be told, ‘Since you have DACA, it’s easier to obtain your residency,'” Castillo said. “If DACA ends, we don’t know what will happen. They know where we live, we will probably receive a letter of deportation.”
“And everything is over,” Sanchez added.
