This dissertation examines the reasons why certain undocumented Mexican individuals who grew up in the U.S. (1.5 generation) chose not to apply (or could not apply) for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in Southern California. DACA is a 2012 executive order that gave some undocumented individuals in the 1.5 generation relief from deportation and a 2-year renewable work permit provided they met certain criteria. My research compares a group without DACA to a group who received DACA. It investigates why people who qualified for DACA did not apply, barriers to applying, and how members of the 1.5 generation were excluded from the program by restrictions such as date-of-arrival requirements. My study also examines the ways that DACA and non-DACA individuals understand their identities and social positions, and how their “(il)legal” position influences how they experience their world and informs their decisions concerning family, work, education, and future goals and plans. Based on my findings, I argue that while DACA improved the lives of those who were able to benefit from the program, it excluded many others and pushed them further into undocumentedness.Fieldwork was conducted from September 2017 to December 2021 in California, focusing on Orange County and San Diego County, which have some of the largest numbers of DACA-eligible in the country. Forty one-on-one interviews were conducted, 20 with DACA beneficiaries and 20 individuals without DACA. I use an interdisciplinary approach and a variety of ethnographic methodologies, such as participant observation, interviews, autoethnography, and decolonial approaches. My project reveals a myriad of state-created precarities as well as social and physical barriers impeding people from applying to or renewing DACA. This included things like not being able to apply to the program due to not having a birth certificate or other paperwork; lacking enough money to apply/renew DACA; the U.S. post office losing work permits; being excluded from the program by stringent requirements; and fears that undocumented family/household members who did not qualify for DACA would be targeted for deportation. Additionally, this research exposes some of the negative aspects of applying to DACA such as forced name alteration during DACA processing. I contend that the volatility of DACA negatively impacts research participants’ (with and without DACA) lives as a whole and their social identities. DACA’s rapidly changing policies left research participants dealing with embodied thoughts of stress and fear. Many described their situations as being “stuck” or feeling as if they cannot plan for the future due to their lack of legal status, and this impacted major life decisions such as higher education trajectories, family planning, employment, spatial mobility, and more. All interviewees grew up in the U.S. and therefore have been enduring the long-term harmful effects of being forced to remain outside of legality for decades.