DACA Decision by US Supreme Court
On June 18th, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Trump Administration’s decision to rescind Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) was deemed invalid due to improper procedural compliance. The decision will assist over 600,000 immigrants currently on the program.
The DACA program was first implemented in 2012 by President Obama to permit immigrants who were brought into the U.S. as children without valid immigration status to remain and work in the U.S. for renewable periods of two years. In September 2017, the Trump administration rescinded the program in September 2017. This decision has been the subject of several court cases since its rescission before making its way to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of upholding DACA, with Chief Justice Roberts delivering the decision of the majority. The Court stated that “DACA was not just a deferred enforcement program as argued by the government, rather, it is a program to solicit applicants who met the criteria for approval” and therefore being eligible additional benefits. By granting DACA, recipients “may request work authorization and are eligible for Social Security and Medicare.” As such, approval of DACA effectively results in applicants’ “adjudications” according to the Court, making “access to these types of benefits …an interest ‘courts often are called upon to protect.’”
Moreover, the Supreme Court disagreed with DHS’s arguments to terminate the program, the main one being that the program was illegal and its termination was required to “maintain public confidence in the rule of law.” It found the process for rescission of the program illegal and the ruling today allows DACA to remain as law.
It is not clear what effect this decision will have on immigrants who have been disqualified from applying for DACA since 2017. There are talks of the DACA program allowing travel authorization once again and allowing initial applicants to apply for DACA as opposed to only renewal applicants, but nothing has been confirmed yet. DHS will be issuing Policy Memorandum in the near future on this program. We will keep you informed of further developments as they become known to us.
If you have any questions regarding this decision and if or how it would affect your case, please contact us at (626)714-7492 or info@budalawgroup.net.
