2nd federal judge orders Trump administration to accept DACA renewals

A second federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to accept renewal applications from DACA recipients, ruling Tuesday that the government improperly terminated the program offering protections from deportation to young undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.

The order from federal District Court Judge Nicholas Garaufis in New York comes as Congress debates legislation that would allow up to 1.8 million undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, known as "DREAMers,"  to gain legal status rather than face possible deportation. The DREAM Act — Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors — was legislation that offered many of the same protections as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals administrative program but never passed Congress.

Congress is trying to pass legislation before the DACA program ends March 5, when about 1,000 participants a day will begin losing deportation protections and work permits, making them vulnerable to deportation.

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On Jan. 13, four days after a federal judge in San Francisco issued an injunction blocking the Trump's attempt to end the program, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services began accepting renewal applications from people approved for the Obama-era program.

Under Tuesday's ruling, the government must accept renewal applications only from people previously approved for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, not from people who were eligible but never applied.

Some media outlets erroneously reported that the ruling would require the Trump administration to accept new applications for DACA.

Follow Daniel González on Twitter: @azdangonzalez

State of New York et al v. Donald Trump et al