More than 110,000 young undocumented immigrants — about 72 percent of those eligible — have applied to renew their work permits ahead of today’s deadline set by President Donald Trump as part of his decision to end President Barack Obama’s signature deportation-relief program.
Despite pleas from advocates in hurricane-ravaged Texas and Florida, the federal government did not extend the deadline to accommodate immigrants in those areas who may have had difficulty gathering the necessary paperwork and $495 fee.
However, administration officials said Tuesday that they will accept late filings on a case-by-case basis from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, because of Hurricane Maria.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program on Sept. 5 but gave immigrants whose two-year work permits would expire before March 5 the chance to renew them one last time.
As of Wednesday, 112,000 of the 154,000 immigrants eligible for renewals had applied, according to the Department of Homeland Security. More than half had submitted their applications before Sessions announced the end of the program. That number that was not publicly known last month when advocates began a frantic effort to help people renew. Since Sept. 5, about 54,000 more DACA recipients have applied for renewals, aided by millions of dollars in donations to help pay the renewal fees.
There was a happy-hour fundraiser in Brooklyn and a bake sale in Texas. United We Dream, the country’s largest immigrant-youth-led organization, raised enough money to help 1,367 people pay for their applications. In San Francisco, the nonprofit Mission Asset Fund raised $3.8 million and was still handing out checks to DACA applicants on Tuesday.
“We’re trying to get as many as possible out,” said Tara Robinson, chief development officer for the organization, which has helped nearly 5,000 immigrants with their renewal applications in the past month.
Federal officials said they did not know what happened to the remaining 42,000 eligible DACA recipients who had not filed their renewal applications by Wednesday; the Congressional Hispanic Caucus has asked the Trump administration to extend the deadline so those individuals can apply.
DACA transformed the lives of hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children, allowing them to work legally, attend college and drive. Some have even bought homes.
Bills are pending in the House and the Senate that would grant legal status to DACA beneficiaries. But a major sticking point is what concessions — such as increased immigration enforcement and tougher border security — the Republican-controlled Congress and White House will demand in return.
If lawmakers cannot agree on a bill by March 5, DACA recipients’ work permits will expire at a rate of roughly 30,000 a month, leaving them unable to legally work and putting them — like all of the nation’s estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants — at some risk of deportation.