Catalina Xochitl Santiago was detained at El Paso airport after passing security and taken to an immigration detention center without clear explanation. Santiago is a Daca beneficiary who legally lives and works in the United States. Her family reports no legal basis provided for the detention or deportation attempts. The case demonstrates vulnerability among hundreds of thousands of Daca recipients facing heightened enforcement. The administration has attempted to strip benefits from about 525,000 Daca recipients. A DHS assistant press secretary falsely asserted that Daca confers no legal status and urged recipients to self-deport. Other Daca recipients have been detained in workplace raids and public encounters.
Catalina Xochitl Santiago had already made it past the security line at the El Paso airport when two border patrol agents called her in for questioning and whisked her away to an immigration detention center. Nearly a month after her arrest, she and her family still aren't clear why she is detained. Santiago is a beneficiary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) program which has allowed her to legally live and work in the US.
Since her arrest on 3 August, Santiago's case has alarmed immigration advocates across the US, as it illustrates the increasing vulnerability of hundreds of thousands of young people who arrived in the US as children and were granted temporary protections from deportation through the Obama-era Daca program. Although there have been no regulatory changes to the program, the administration has tried to strip 525,000 Daca recipients, also known as Dreamers, of benefits.
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