More than 2,000 immigrants complied with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) order and returned employment authorization documents showing a 3-year validity.
But 22 people lost their legal status through DACA - Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals - for failing to return work permits issued in error. They had until July 30, 2015 to return them.
In documents filed with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, attorneys for the U.S. Department of Justice indicated that they complied with the order to invalidate and seek to recover employment authorization documents with a 3-year validity issued after February 16, 2015.
In July, Judge Andrew Hanen required Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson and other immigration officials to appear at a hearing on August 19, 2015 to respond to his failure to comply with his court order blocking immigration executive actions by allowing the issuance of documents with a validity of more than 2 years.
However, Judge Hanen said he would cancel the hearing if the government did everything in its power to revoke the more than 2,000 three-year work permits, prompting USCIS to begin the aggressive campaign to recover the documents.
Faced with the non-compliance of a large number of immigrants and to motivate them, the USCIS announced that DACA would be cancelled for those who did not return their permits.
The Department of Justice reported that 22 people lost DACA. That means that these individuals became undocumented again and will have to reapply for DACA if they meet the proper requirements.
