Washington, D.C. — On the last day that renewal applications for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program will be accepted by the federal government, Center for American Progress Vice President for Immigration Policy Tom Jawetz issued the following statement:
At the end of the day today, the Trump administration will be slamming the doors on tens of thousands of Dreamers, who were unable to meet the arbitrary deadline set by the administration. Last month, President Trump gave more than 150,000 DACA recipients whose permits are set to expire before March 5 just 30 days to gather all of their paperwork, find nearly $500 for application fee, and submit their renewal applications. And, as Vox and others point out, while advocates worked tirelessly to get the word out about the deadline, the administration did absolutely nothing to provide notice to DACA recipients. Thanks in part to that deafening silence, tens of thousands of DACA recipients will likely not get their renewal applications in on time, and will soon lose their ability to continue working legally and living free from fear of being torn apart from their families and their communities through detention and deportation.
Advocates and members of Congress have been pressing the administration to move the October 5 deadline, and allow DACA recipients to continue to renew their status, with no luck. Ending DACA in the first place was a travesty, and the fact that the administration refuses to budge on the deadline, leaving even Dreamers in areas decimated by natural disaster without any additional time to file, is yet another crisis of the administration’s own making.
Today’s deadline, and the tens of thousands of DACA recipients left out in the cold by the administration’s cruel and capricious actions, highlights the urgency of Congress taking action to pass a clean Dream Act without any further delay.