Republished February 28, 2018 - 3:20 PM
Original Publication Date February 28, 2018 - 1:36 PM
HOUSTON - U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services says about 11,000 people renewed protections under a program shielding young immigrants from deportation in the weeks after a judge partially reopened it.
The agency released figures Wednesday for the three weeks after Jan. 10, the day after U.S. District Judge William Alsup ordered the government to resume accepting renewals under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
As of Jan. 31, another 22,000 people have initial requests for DACA protection pending. The number of people with DACA protection as of the end of January is 683,000.
Alsup ruled Jan. 9 that the Trump administration failed to justify ending the program. Another judge issued a similar ruling in a separate case in February.
Those rulings have removed some urgency leading up to the administration's March 5 deadline for the DACA program.
News from © The Associated Press, 2018