Janet Napolitano, president of the University of California System and one of DACA’s creators, was among a bipartisan trio of Department of Homeland Security secretaries that told Congress earlier this month they needed to act by January 19 if they wanted to save the program without causing major hiccups.

Should lawmakers reach a legislative fix after the 19th, it’s likely thousands of recipients will see a lapse in DACA services even if a replacement is approved before the program ends in March.

Beyond the thousands of students who are DACA recipients — or are the children of program beneficiaries — an estimated 20,000 are teachers, including Ivonne Orozco, a Spanish teacher in Albuquerque, New Mexico, who recently was namedstate Teacher of the Year for 2018.

About 190 Teach for America educators and alumni are DACA recipients, serving roughly 10,000 students in 11 states, said Viridiana Carrizales, the nonprofit’s managing director of DACA Corps Member Support. Without new legislation, DACA status will expire for several TFA teachers in April, she said. Amid uncertainty, they’re already preparing for life without work authorization and deportation relief. Likewise, school principals and human resources officials have started to ask recipients if they plan to return next year.

Read the full article on the government shutdown by Mark Keierleber at The 74