Kaiser nurse faces termination as DACA renewal delays strip work permit

A 34-year-old surgical nurse at Kaiser Permanente in San Francisco faces termination Thursday after Trump administration backlogs stalled her DACA work authorization renewal. The nurse, who arrived in the United States at age 2 from the Philippines and has worked at Kaiser for more than a decade, holds an expired permit while her renewal application awaits federal approval, according to ABC7.

The case spotlights a mounting crisis for DACA recipients across California's healthcare workforce — including in Orange County, where hospitals rely on immigrant clinical staff — as federal processing times have ballooned from about three weeks to several months, leaving workers legally vulnerable mid-renewal.

On Monday, medical personnel gathered outside Kaiser Permanente's San Francisco hospital to demand that the hospital extend unpaid administrative leave for the surgical nurse facing termination Thursday. Coworkers say her work authorization expired while her renewal application awaited processing — a gap that has left her legally unable to continue working.

"She is slated to be terminated on Thursday because her DACA work paperwork has been delayed by the Trump administration," said Sydney Simpson, a registered nurse and Kaiser coworker, according to ABC7.

Simpson said colleagues have appealed directly to hospital leadership without success. "We're not asking Kaiser to pay her. Just keep her on unpaid leave," Simpson said, according to ABC7. "If she were a nurse at the UC system, that's what they would do. She would stay on unpaid leave until her paperwork comes through. But Kaiser is not negotiating. They're not budging. We have sent them letters."

The delays reflect a widening federal backlog. As of March 2025, more than 16,000 active DACA recipients lived in the Bay Area, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data cited by ABC7. Lariza Dugan-Cuadra, executive director of the Central American Resource Center, said timelines that once took three weeks to complete are now stretching far longer. "Processes and applications, that took about three weeks, to get approved are now taking months, many months. What we're seeing is that many of the work authorization documents are expiring before a recipient, but the beneficiaries are getting, an approval notice," Dugan-Cuadra said, according to ABC7.

Employers face conflicting legal risks, said Bill Hing, a professor of law and migration studies at UC San Francisco. "I think that they are treading on dangerous territory because DACA recipients historically have been getting renewals," Hing said, according to ABC7. At the same time, Hing noted that retaining the nurse could expose Kaiser to federal scrutiny. "If Kaiser decides to continue hiring somebody without a valid employment authorization document, they do risk the Trump administration coming in and doing an audit. And so will they be fined for doing this? In my opinion, it all depends on whether or not a judge determines that Kaiser was acting in good faith or not," Hing said, according to ABC7.

The situation mirrors challenges facing DACA recipients at healthcare systems throughout California, including in Orange County, where major hospital networks employ immigrant clinical workers. The Central American Resource Center reported processing delays of up to five months in some cases, according to ABC7.

CARECEN's Dugan-Cuadra urged all DACA recipients to apply for renewal at least six months before expiration "given the lags," according to ABC7. The nurse faces termination Thursday.