Federal immigration officials now believe more than 6,500 at-risk adolescent immigrants in New York were denied special federal protected status following a change of Department of Homeland Security policy in 2018, according to court filings.

The figure is double what immigration advocates initially believed the class size to be, following an order in March by U.S. District Judge John Koeltl of the Southern District of New York that reestablished state family court orders as sufficient to meet federal requirements for those at-risk 18- to 21-year-olds seeking protected immigration status.

The information came in a letter filed May 15 with the district court arguing that an amendment to the proposed language defining qualifications for the class approved by Koeltl would unnecessarily burden federal officials by reopening more cases than was necessary.