Washington (CNN) White House chief of staff John Kelly suggested Tuesday that some undocumented immigrants were "too afraid" or "too lazy" to sign up for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

"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," he said on Capitol Hill after meeting with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, according to audio posted by The Washington Post

"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," Kelly added.

Later Tuesday, after another meeting on Capitol Hill, Kelly said some people who were DACA eligible but didn't sign up had reasons but most probably "needed to get off the couch."

The Trump administration proposed a pathway to citizenship for 1.8 million undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children in return for a $25 billion investment in border security.

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