White House chief of staff John Kelly says that the undocumented immigrants who didn't sign up for DACA are either "too afraid" or "too lazy" to do so.
"There are 690,000 official DACA registrants and the President sent over what amounts to be two and a half times that number, to 1.8 million.
The difference between 690 and 1.8 million were the people that some would say were too afraid to sign up, others would say were too lazy to get off their asses, but they didn't sign up."
Then, later that same day he doubled down and said those who were DACA eligible and still didn't sign up probably had their reasons but most probably "needed to get off the couch."
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders responded to questions about Kelly's comments in a daily briefing.
"We're focused on actually getting a solution and, frankly, I think if anybody's lazy, it's probably Democrats who aren't showing up to work and aren't actually getting to the table to make a deal on this."
However, Democrats are hitting back against the comments on social media.
CNN reported Tuesday that as of right now the March 5th DACA deadline is up in the air as Kelly also says he wouldn't recommend giving Congress an extension.
Trump's Homeland Security secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, previously told lawmakers that the administration does not have the authority to extend the DACA program.
The chairwoman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, argued that there's a "tiny silver lining" in Kelly's comments in that it removes ambiguity and adds urgency to act.
"I think that puts the right kind of leverage -- not that I agree with the White House strategies, typically -- but that puts the right kind of leverage on the Senate," Lujan Grisham,a New Mexico Democrat, told CNN.