Despite repeated urging from a federal judge, the Department of Homeland Security won’t extend the Oct. 5 deadline for recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to renew their status, CNN reported Tuesday.
An attorney for the Department of Justice told U.S. District Court Judge Nicholas Garaufis of the decision during a federal hearing Tuesday about a lawsuit filed against the federal government over its decision to end DACA.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced on Sept. 5 that the President would end DACA in six months, giving Congress time to come up with a legislative fix for the program, which protects more than 800,000 undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as minors.
Garaufis had previously suggested the department should consider extending the deadline for those whose DACA status expires in March, when the program is set to end.
The deputy assistant attorney general for the Department of Justice said earlier this month that DHS was considering pushing back that deadline in order to give DACA recipients impacted by the onslaught of hurricanes in Texas, Louisiana and Florida time to get their paperwork in.
Garaufis said he was shocked by the decision and said he had advocated for it so that no members of the program would be at risk of deportation.
“I’ve worked in every branch of government … and I’ve never seen a circumstance like this,” he said, questioning what the “hurry” was, according to CNN.