When she was younger, Yarely picked strawberries in the fields near her hometown. Many from her community find work in the agricultural industry, including both of her parents. Her mom and dad regularly work for 12 hours a day, six or seven days a week, to support Yarely and her siblings as they pursue their educations. “My family has impacted every aspect of my life. Thanks to my parents’ hard work, I was able to focus on school,” she says. “I grew up in an environment where my parents were motivated, honest, and hardworking. Thanks to my parents I learned that the government can take my legal status, but they will never take my knowledge.”

In November 2018, a federal appeals court upheld a ruling that blocked the Trump administration from ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA). The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a unanimous decision by a three-judge panel, maintained a nationwide injunction blocking the White House from rescinding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The Obama-era program has protected about 700,000 undocumented immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children, including 200,000 in California.

The uncertainty of her status and the DACA program continue to worry Yarely: “I don’t have a clear idea of what my future will look like. It’s frustrating that someone who doesn’t know me can change my life so drastically.” These concerns are magnified when Yarely considers the potential impact to her family: “I contribute to my family’s expenses, my sister and I are protected under DACA, and if DACA is removed we won’t be able to continue working.”

Yarely’s family is also mixed-status. The recent fluctuations in immigration policies mean that family members can easily have different legal statuses depending on when they arrived in the U.S. One of the consequences has been the detention and separation of immigrant families in greater numbers. “Being an immigrant in this country feels like I need to prove to everyone why I deserve to be here, that my actions don’t speak for themselves,” Yarely says. “I have to prove to everyone that we are not criminals, we are humans trying to establish a living in the only country we know as home.”

Her family is hardly alone. There are approximately 16 million people across the U.S. in mixed-status families, and this population faces increasing challenges with the immigration system. Without a broad comprehensive immigration reform program in the last thirty years, families have been left in legal limbo. Decades ago, many immigrants arrived as lawful permanent residents or with some form of visa. Others were able to achieve legal status once they arrived through, for example, the legalization provisions in the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. But in the absence of comprehensive immigration reform, there have been fewer opportunities for undocumented immigrants to gain legal status.