Another federal judge orders Trump to accept DACA renewals.
A second federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to accept renewal applications from DACA recipients, ruling that the government improperly terminated the program offering deportation protections to young undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.
Tuesday’s ruling by U.S. District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis in New York comes as Congress debates legislation that would let up to 1.8 million undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children gain legal status rather than face possible deportation.
Congress is trying to pass legislation before the program ends on March 5, when about 1,000 DACA recipients a day will begin losing deportation protection.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services already began accepting renewal applications from people approved for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program on Jan. 13, four days after a judge in San Francisco issued an injunction blocking attempts to end the program.
Under Monday’s ruling, the government must only accept renewal applications from people previously approved for DACA, not from people who were eligible but never applied.