DHS to begin accepting new DACA applications following court order

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on Monday that it will be accepting new applications for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program after a judge ordered the Trump administration to restore the program on Friday, CNN reports.

According to a release on the DHS website, first-time DACA requests will now be accepted along with renewals. One-year grants of extended action and employment authorization will be expanded to two years.

Despite complying with the order issued by Judge Nicholas Garaufis, DHS indicated it may appeal the decision.

“DHS will comply with Judge Garaufis’ order while it remains in effect, but DHS may seek relief from the order,” read the release.

Garaufis’s order on Friday backed up a ruling he made in November that stated new DACA rules made by acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf were invalid. Garaufis found that Wolf, though serving in an acting capacity as head of DHS, was not legally serving as Homeland Security secretary.

As CNN notes, the Trump administration unsuccessfully attempted to end DACA, which provides deportation protection for young undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children, in 2017 when the Supreme Court blocked the action. Soon after the Supreme Court’s ruling, Wolf said DHS would not longer be accepting new applications and shortened renewals to one year.

The order on Friday called for the agency to publicly make it clear that it was accepting new applications.

Around 1 million adults and teens will now be eligible to apply for DACA. About 640,000 people are currently enrolled in the program.

Before the judge’s ruling, President-elect Joe Biden had promised to fully restore DACA upon assuming office in January. Biden announced that he was picking Alejandro Mayorkas as his nominee to lead DHS.

Mayorkas previously served as director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services and deputy director of Homeland Security.