On Monday, the Supreme Court denied the Trump administration’s request for a lawsuit regarding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which grants undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children work permits and protection from deportation. This means that the March 5 deadline the Trump administration had originally set for terminating the program is void and recipients’ protected status remains.
Current DACA recipients will be able to continue renewing their status indefinitely, most likely until the case reaches the Supreme Court again, which will not happen until next year at the earliest. Congress is now under less pressure to pass a long-term legislative solution to maintain DACA.
The Trump administration rescinded DACA in September, hoping to twist Congress’ arm into passing an immigration bill that would include tougher border security measures and tighter restrictions on legal immigration and asylum seekers in exchange for the safety of DACA recipients. However, several consolidated lawsuits in the Northern District of California successfully argued that the White House ignored federal law procedures and violated DACA recipient’s rights in January, resulting in an injunction that prohibited a termination of the program while the lawsuit took place. The injunction also required U.S. Customs and Immigration Services to continue processing renewal applications but did not require them to accept new applications.
The White House appealed the injunction to the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, but in an unusual move also directly asked the Supreme Court to take on the lawsuit, hoping to decide the issue more quickly.
Furthermore, if your DACA status has been revoked without notice, on Monday a Los Angeles court ruled that the Trump administration’s revocation of DACA status for some recipients for unproven allegations or minor offenses is unconstitutional, and ordered them to reinstate DACA for these recipients. Visit this ACLU page to get help reinstating your status or learn more about your rights as a DACA recipient.
Click here to learn more about the DACA renewal process.
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