As police departments struggle to recruit and retain officers, some look to a previously untapped pool of applicants to fill job vacancies.

States, including California and Colorado, have begun to pass laws that would permit noncitizens who are authorized to work in the U.S. to become police officers, while others, such as New Jersey, mull similar legislation. The measures make recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program eligible for law enforcement work.

Beneficiaries of the DACA program have historically been barred from holding jobs in law enforcement because of various provisions in state laws.

The DACA program, which provides protections against deportation for people who arrived in the United States without legal status before turning 16 and who have lived in the country continuously since at least 2007, has about 580,000 active recipients in the United States.

Christian Alberto Mendoza-Almendarez, 30, is among them. He was brought to the U.S. at age 7 after his family fled Mexico’s drug cartels.

He has wanted to be a police officer since he was a boy watching his father patrol the streets of San Luis Potosi, Mexico. But his immigration status makes him ineligible in Texas, where he serves as a neighborhood liaison with the Austin Police Department.

He's thinking about moving to California or Colorado to fulfill his dream.

“We’re not here to change the requirements,” he said. “These people have what it takes to become a police officer.”...

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