After a Three-Year Legal Battle, DACA Program Restored Over Trump Administration Objections by Judge’s Order
New York Federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis fully restored the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program on December 4, overturning Trump’s decision not to comply with the Obama-era initiative for children of illegal immigrants brought to the US.
Under Obama’s plan, DACA children, previously known as DREAMers, were provided a legitimate residency classification if they had entered the US illegally as youths. In order to qualify for a DACA classification, applicants must have arrived in the US before they were 16 and lived here since 2007.
President Trump attempted to end DACA in 2017 but was stopped by the US Supreme Court who deemed termination unlawful. The High Court, in its 5-4 ruling, said Trump’s 2017 decision to phase out DACA was legally flawed.
With Garaufis’ new order, the Trump Administration is legally bound to publicly post a notice and accept new DACA applications starting December 7. As of early Monday, the Department of Homeland Security had complied and posted on its website information showing DACA is now accepting not only new applications but also two-year renewals.
“DHS is DIRECTED to post a public notice, within 3 calendar days of this Order, to be displayed prominently on its website and on the websites of all other relevant agencies, that it is accepting first-time requests for consideration of deferred action under DACA, renewal requests, and advance parole requests, based on the terms of the DACA program prior to September 5, 2017,” instructed Garaufis in his order.
This new DACA order has roots in the Supreme Court’s June 2017 decision calling Trump’s phase-out of DACA legally flawed. Following that ruling, Federal Judge Garaufis ruled that Chad Wolf was not legally serving as acting Homeland Security Secretary after Wolf sent out a memo that severely limited applications and renewals for DACA. Wolf’s memo had said no new DACA applications would be accepted and that renewals would be restricted to one year instead of two.
Included in the new order, Garaufis told the Trump Administration to launch an additional program called ‘Advance Parole.’ This benefit allows DACA recipients to leave the US without jeopardizing their status, a right Trump had also discontinued.
Looking forward, it is expected that President-elect Joe Biden will continue to protect DACA. However, more legal battles abound. Texas and other states have filed a lawsuit alleging President Obama never had the authority or legal right to initiate the program.
