DACA Recipients Can Resubmit Applications for Renewal

Beneficiaries in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program can resubmit renewal applications that were delayed in the mail if they can prove the delay, according to The New York Times.

"We’re glad to see USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) do the right thing by accepting these applications," Camille Mackler, director of legal immigration policy at New York Immigration Coalition, told The Times.

"This news will come as a huge relief to DACA recipients who had been living with enormous anxiety for weeks now," she added.

In New York and Chicago, at least 74 applications were known to have been rejected because of mail delays, although they had sent them weeks in advance, The Times reported.

At least 33 recipients in the New York area had their applications denied because they arrived after the Oct. 5 deadline although they had sent them weeks in advance, The Times reported.

The U.S. Postal Service said that the Chicago area had experienced an "unintentional temporary processing delay," The Times reported.

"All of this could have been avoided by not having a very short arbitrary deadline and by responding to our concerns about having a received-by deadline," Kate Voigt, associate director of government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told the newspaper. 

Two dozen Senate Democrats had called on Homeland Security Wednesday to allow beneficiaries to resubmit their applications that had been denied due to mail delays, according to The Hill. 

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