Jupiter Peraza, 29, started her job at City Hall just last month. After years involved in San Francisco policy work — from creating a Transgender History Month to advocating against a suspect city redistricting process — she landed a role as Mayor Daniel Lurie’s community liaison to the Tenderloin neighborhood.
Her future is now in danger. Within weeks, she abruptly lost her permission to work in the United States. Since April 10, she’s been stuck in limbo, waiting.
Peraza, who arrived in Los Angeles with her parents from Mexico when she was eight, is one of some 500,000 participants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program who have for months seen long delays to renew their status. Many like Peraza are now losing their jobs because their biennial renewals, previously routine, have failed to come through.
“Life feels like it’s come to a standstill … my life and my career feel like it’s just come to a stop,” Peraza said of the past few weeks. “I’ve been frozen in time.”
DACA participants across the country have been affected by the delays, and congressmembers earlier this month sent a letter to federal immigration officials demanding answers and faster processing times.
Peraza, unlike many in her position, has help from high up: The San Francisco Department of Human Resources is helping her write requests to expedite her application, she said, as did Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s office. Her supporters have donated nearly $15,000 to a GoFundMe to support her while she is unable to go to work.
Peraza said that the mayor’s office has offered to hold her job for her, but it is unclear how long that offer might stand.
“We can’t discuss the details of personnel matters, but Mayor Lurie and our entire team appreciate Jupiter and are grateful to serve alongside her,” said Lurie’s spokesperson, Charles Lutvak. “Our administration has always led with San Francisco values front and center, and Jupiter certainly exemplifies that.”
With her DACA status lapsed, Peraza’s presence in the country where she was raised is considered unlawful.
Since her parents brought her to the United States 21 years ago, Peraza has put in the work to get where she is today. She arrived in San Francisco from Los Angeles in 2015 to attend San Francisco State University, worked as an events manager at Manny’s cafe in the Mission District and then became the director of social justice and empowerment initiatives at the Transgender District. She joined Lurie’s office in March.
The DACA program allows children who were brought to the country as children to live and work in the United States on a two-year cycle of renewals to maintain their eligibility. Records from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services show there are about 9,500 DACA recipients in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The program, launched in 2012 by President Barack Obama, has been under attack from President Donald Trump’s administration, which first attempted to end it in 2017. Between then and 2025, the number of active participants has decreased from 700,000 to 500,000.
Trump has given mixed signals on DACA’s future. In 2024, the president said he wanted to find a way for DACA recipients to stay in the country. But in 2025, the Department of Homeland Security told DACA recipients to self-deport and participants in the program lost access to the federal healthcare marketplace.
Just last week, a Board of Immigration Appeals decision weakened deportation protections for DACA participants. The reason behind the renewal delays is unclear, and the USCIS website still urges DACA recipients to apply for renewals up to 150 days before their documents expire. Peraza said she applied 147 days early.
Despite the risks, Peraza decided years ago that she didn’t want to be ashamed of her immigration status. Her social media profiles proudly announce that she is undocumented.
“I’m just hoping that talking about this can also help others, not just DACA recipients,” she said, “have the confidence to be bold and to be courageous and to demand more — because that’s honestly just an ask of wanting a better life.”