Immigration Agency Again Accepting DACA Renewal Requests
The decision comes four days after a federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s decision to end the program
WASHINGTON — The U.S. said Saturday that it has resumed accepting requests to renew grants of deferred action under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announcement comes after a judge last week temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s decision to end the program later this year. “Until further notice ... the DACA policy will be operated on the terms in place before it was rescinded on Sept. 5, 2017,” the agency said in a statement on its website. The statement said that people who were previously granted deferred action under DACA may request renewal, but added that the agency is not accepting requests from individuals who were never granted deferred action under DACA. A DACA deferment gives prosecutors discretion on enforcing immigration laws. In September 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump rescinded DACA, which was instituted by former President Barack Obama to protect nearly 800,000 immigrants from deportation who were brought to the U.S. as children and remain illegally. DACA allows them to live, work and go to school in the United States. Many of the young immigrants, often called Dreamers, have only known the U.S. as their home. In announcing the end of the program, Trump gave Congress until March 5 to agree on legislation that would provide equivalent protections to those offered under DACA.