DHS admits it deported more than 80 DACA recipients
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem acknowledged in a letter to Senate Democrats that immigration officers detained up to 261 DACA recipients — young people legally protected from deportation under the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program — and deported 86 of them. Noem claimed that 241 of those detained had "criminal histories" but provided no details about the nature of the charges, prompting sharp pushback from Democratic senators who noted that DACA recipients undergo rigorous background checks every time they renew their status, making serious criminal records unlikely, and that the Trump administration has previously detained and deported people for minor, non-violent infractions including traffic violations. Democrats released the letter publicly and demanded more detailed information, arguing that deporting Dreamers — people brought to the U.S. as children who have built their lives here legally — without transparency or due process is unacceptable. The deportations underscore the Trump administration's broader stance that DACA confers no permanent legal right to remain in the U.S., and comes as legislative efforts to provide Dreamers a path to citizenship remain stalled in Congress.