"Our home is here": DACA recipients brace for Trump's return

• While Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) enrollment may not be enough to protect them, immigrant advocates said recipients need to begin preparing now.
• Only 530,000 of those eligible are currently protected under DACA. At the program's height, about 800,000 people enrolled.

Zoom in: For Hans Miguel Esguerra, an end to DACA could mean returning to the Philippines, a country he hasn't stepped foot in for more than two decades.

• "I support my family as well financially and in other ways," he said. "It's not just me that I'm preparing for this impact for. It's also going to have a downwind effect with my family and the support I'm able to provide."
• DACA is not the same as a green card, but it allows enrollees to legally live, work and drive in the United States.
• Esguerra, an Immigrants Rising board member, said he's financially preparing for a gap in employment if his work eligibility changes — and that's after he went into debt because of delays in his June DACA renewal.

Threat level: Trump made deporting potentially millions of immigrants in the country illegally a pillar of his presidential campaign, seizing on lurid crimes allegedly committed by undocumented migrants.

• In his first administration, Trump employed measures like separating migrant families from children. Immigrant advocates fear the return of similarly harsh measures.
• "I recall the moment that happened," said Maribel Hernández Rivera, the ACLU director of policy and government affairs for border and immigration, who has relatives with DACA and temporary protected status. "I recall the fear that we had about being separated as a family."

Context: Trump's immigration crackdown is expected to eventually target DACA recipients.

• During his first term, the Trump administration tried to end the DACA program. The Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that while administration could end DACA, the method it used was illegal.
• A representative for Trump's transition team did not respond to Axios' request for comment.

Driving the news: Immigration advocates are bracing for Trump once again to try to discontinue the 12-year-old program.

• Enrollees should make sure they know where their DACA card is and renew it if they can, said Areli Hernandez, external affairs director at the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles.
• "Business leaders will also have to show leadership for their workers, they will have to show leadership for members of their community who are part of the workforce," Hernandez said. "DACA beneficiaries are teachers, they're nurses, they are working in communities that need them."

Friction point: The Biden administration has faced roadblocks in trying to fortify the policy.

• The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals is considering the validity of DACA for the second time in two years.
• Earlier this year, the Biden administration expanded the Affordable Care Act marketplaces to DACA recipients. Several states filed lawsuits challenging the move.
• U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services stopped approving initial DACA applications in 2021.

Between the lines: Immigrant advocacy groups began preparing for another Trump presidency far before Election Day.

• "We weren't going to get caught by surprise again," said Juliana Regina Macedo do Nascimento, United We Dream's deputy director of federal advocacy.
• Her organization is now preparing to be on the defense against a GOP-led White House and Congress, as well as a conservative Supreme Court, in addition to existing litigation against the program.

The bottom line: "We are resilient and we will do everything we can to defend ourselves and protect our people," said Macedo do Nascimento, who is a DACA recipient originally from Brazil.

• "Our home is here, and we mean it," she added.

Go deeper:

• Immigrant advocates mobilize against planned mass deportations
• Biden opens up ACA marketplaces to DACA recipients