Three Democratic members of Congress joined immigration advocates in demanding the release of detained Dreamers just hours before one of the targets of their ire, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, was fired by President Donald Trump.
The virtual press conference hosted by United We Dream and America’s Voice included remarks by U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez and U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Alex Padilla, all of whom are leading efforts to require DHS to disclose the extent of its detention and deportation of DACA recipients.
Delia Ramirez
Also known as Dreamers, they are immigrants raised in the U.S. after being brought into the country illegally as children and later granted continuing exemptions from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. All are noncitizens but are in the country legally.
The frustrated legislators disclosed that Noem informed the Senate recently that 261 Dreamers had been detained from January to November 2025, while she told the House 270 had been detained.
“So which one is it? How many of our neighbors have had their protective status violated? How many have endured inhumane detention? How many have been disappeared?” Ramirez asked.
Legislators also learned that more than 86 DACA recipients already have been deported by the administration in its continuing campaign against other lawfully present immigrants such as asylum seekers, refugees and Temporary Protected Status beneficiaries.
“And while DHS’s response tells us that DACA recipients are at great risk, we have to know more, we demand transparency. It’s why I’m following up with Secretary Noem, because while her days in office are in fact numbered — may it be so — we demand that she abides by the law while she’s still in fact secretary. And frankly, we demand the truth.”
Ramirez said it’s been a year of sleepless nights as the administration and Noem directed the abduction of immigrants, detained children, militarized cities and murdered neighbors.
“The Department of Homeland Security is in fact the biggest threat to our collective safety.”
“I’ve said it to Secretary Noem in committee, and I’ll say it again: The Department of Homeland Security is in fact the biggest threat to our collective safety, and funding it only fuels our own destruction and human suffering.”
Targeting Dreamers is especially heartbreaking because they have grown up in American communities and schools and passed repeated background checks to obtain DACA status, Durbin said.
Dick Durbin
“You’re subject to biennial reviews, you have to pay a fee, you have to file timely renewals and the like. And I want to make it clear: Despite multiple court challenges, DACA is still in place and the Trump administration is under court order to process DACA renewal and work permit applications.”
In addition to those arrested and deported, there are reports DHS is moving slowly on DACA renewal applications in order to arrest individuals when they expire, Durbin added.
“Everyone on this call knows what’s really going on here. This is an all-out effort to fulfill Donald Trump and (presidential adviser) Stephen Miller’s evil vision of a hateful America. Trump’s animus toward immigrants is on full display in his second term. He attempted to eliminate DACA in his first term, and now he is doing everything he can to strip Dreamers of their lawful protection.”
Alex Padilla
Padilla raked the administration for reneging on yet another of the nation’s promises to immigrants and pointed to the racism inherent in Trump’s mass deportation campaign.
“We know that over 260 DACA recipients were swept up in this administration’s indiscriminate roundup of anyone who either looks Latino or has an accent. And we know that 86 of those DACA recipients have been deported, maybe more,” he said.
He also disputed the administration’s accusations that immigrants pose a threat to the U.S., adding the claim is meaningless after the shooting deaths of two U.S. citizens during immigration protests in Minneapolis.
“Donald Trump wants to paint Dreamers as violent criminals, as the ‘worst of the worst,’ as he likes to say. They claimed that over 240 of those detained had criminal histories. But it’s really hard to take the word of the same DHS that jumps so quickly to attack (Minneapolis residents) Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti and labeled them domestic terrorists moments after their deaths.”
Maria de Jesus Estrada Jaurez
The online sessions also included remarks from Maria de Jesus Estrada Jaurez, a DACA recipient and mother who was detained in Sacramento, Calif. two weeks ago and quickly deported to Mexico.
Estrada Jaurez explained she was brought into the country as a teenager and was apprehended when making one of her scheduled DACA visits with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“In a single moment, nearly 30 years of my life was taken away from me. My home, my work, my community, the place where my memories and my future were, were suddenly gone. But the greatest pain is losing time with my daughter. My daughter is the U.S. citizen. She is in Sacramento right now trying to be strong, trying to continue her life without her mother by her side. No mother should have to say goodbye to her children like this.”