Just 30 days ago, the White House announced it would phase out an Obama-era initiative known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which grants work authorization and deportation relief in two-year increments for certain undocumented applicants who pass background checks and pay a fee. It set an October 5 deadline for anyone whose work permits expire by March 5 to apply for a two-year extension.
The advocacy group Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), the largest immigrant rights organization in California, said that the tight October 5 deadline was “unrealistic and punishing.”
The Trump administration did nothing to tell people who thought they had more time that the timeline had changed. Some DACA recipients got letters from USCIS before September 5 reminding them that they had 180 more days to reapply — and recommending they reapply in the next three months. But USCIS didn’t send out any corrections to warn those immigrants that if they followed the instructions from the earlier letter, they’d find themselves locked out.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) later clarified that the October 5 deadline referred to applications physically received, not simply applications postmarked by that date, narrowing the 30-day window set by the White House.
The Trump administration has so far refused to grant any extensions for those affected by California wildfires, or the Texas and Florida hurricane areas-- three areas particularly rich in DACA individuals.
Even if the administration wasn’t willing to extend the deadline, advocates had other suggestions. USCIS could have sent letters out to DACA recipients who were eligible to renew w in the next few months. it could have set up stations at USCIS processing offices where applicants could turn in their applications, guaranteeing that they would be received in time. The government did none of these things.
At a court hearing in New York in mid-September, government lawyers initially said that extending the deadline was under “active consideration” — only to say, in late September, that after review “at the highest levels,” they were going to keep the October 5 deadline. Judge Nicholas Garaufis was livid, calling the decision “heartless.”
Acting DHS Secretary Elaine Duke was closely questioned during a hearing by Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) about why there hadn’t been an extension of the renewal deadline — and played ignorant. “We have had no requests,” she said.
It is estimated that 20-30,000 have missed the deadline and will be eligible for deportation. Do you have any doubts that the Trump administration won't take advantage of that?
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