More than 30,000 young immigrants who were eligible to renew their protection under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program could be left out in the cold now that the deadline for renewals has passed.
Some DACA recipients were eligible to renew their status one last time but they had to do it by Thursday, Oct. 5.
Federal officials said Friday that so far, they've received about 122,000 applications — out of about 154,000 that were were eligible.
That means about 32,000 applications haven't been received or were never submitted.
Officials warned that this is a preliminary tally and last-minute applications may still be uncounted.
"There’s about a five-day lag in the data given the volume and surge of applications received recently, so these numbers are a bit behind," read an emailed statement from officials at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency in charge of processing DACA renewals.
The Trump administration announced in early September that it was rescinding the Obama-era program.
Since 2012, DACA has allowed roughly 800,000 young unauthorized immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as minors to live and work here legally. They could renew that protection every two years. About a quarter of current DACA recipients live in California.
President Trump rescinded the program Sept. 5 but said anyone whose DACA status was set to expire between that date and March 5, when the program ends, could renew their two-year permit one last time.
Since then, legal providers have worked feverishly to help applicants.
Several organizations, including immigrant advocacy groups, religious groups and the local Mexican consulate, have held DACA renewal workshops.
Private donors and others assisted with the $495 federal processing fee. California lawmakers also committed funding that some legal providers could use to help cover low-income applicants' legal and filing fees.
According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, of the roughly 154,000 DACA recipients who were eligible to renew, about 58,000 had already submitted applications when the program was rescinded Sept. 5. About another 64,000 submitted applications between Sept. 5 and Oct. 6.
Agency officials said a final tally is expected next week, at the earliest.
