Last week on December 4, 2020, Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis of the US District Court in Brooklyn ordered that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) must immediately fully reinstate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, reversing a memorandum issued this summer by Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf that restricted the program to those already enrolled. Judge Garaufis ordered that DHS post a public notice stating that it is accepting new, initial DACA applications with work permits that are valid for two years and that DACA recipients are eligible to apply for Advance Parole for international travel. Judge Garaufis also directed the government to notify immigrants eligible for DACA to let them know of the change.
Read moreUSCIS Implements DHS Guidance on DACA
US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) released guidance late last month on how they will implement Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf’s July 28 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) memorandum, which was issued after the Supreme Court rejected in June the Trump administration's attempt to rescind the DACA program.
Read moreThe Washington Post: "Supreme Court blocks Trump’s bid to end DACA, a win for undocumented 'dreamers'"
The Supreme Court today rejected the Trump administration's attempt to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which protects undocumented immigrants brought to United States as children from removal (commonly called deportation) and provides them work permission. This decision provides a reprieve, if only temporary, for nearly 650,000 recipients commonly referred to as “Dreamers.” Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. wrote the 5-to-4 decision and he was joined by the court’s four liberals.
Read moreA Decent Life
The Washington Post: “Federal Judge: Trump administration must accept new DACA applications”
A federal judge in Washington D.C. has ordered the government to continue the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and allow new applicants to apply, calling the Trump administration’s decision to rescind the program for the hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children “virtually unexplained” and “unlawful." In his decision, US District Judge John D. Bates writes that the Trump administration's decision “was arbitrary and capricious because the Department failed adequately to explain its conclusion that the program was unlawful" and that "each day that the agency delays is a day that aliens who might otherwise be eligible for initial grants of DACA benefits are exposed to removal because of an unlawful agency action.” Even so, Judge Bates has stayed his ruling for ninety days to give the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) time to provide a more detailed reason for ending the program; otherwise, the judge will rescind the memo that ended the DACA program and allow for new applicants.
Read moreVox: "March 5 is supposed to be the DACA 'deadline.' Here’s what that means for immigrants."
Last September, President Trump announced the termination of the Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and gave March 5, 2018, as the deadline for Congress to find a legislative solution for the approximately 700,000 DACA recipients. This March 5 deadline arrived this week just after the Supreme Court declined to hear the administration’s appeal of a federal judge's injunction that halted Trump's decision to terminate the DACA program. Currently, because of the recent court injunctions and the actions of the Supreme Court and despite the March 5 deadline, USCIS is accepting DACA renewals only and operating the DACA program on the “terms in place before it was rescinded on Sept. 5, 2017, until further notice.”
Read moreMoral Test
New York Times: “Supreme Court Turns Down Trump’s Appeal in ‘Dreamers’ Case”
The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear the administration’s appeal of a federal judge's injunction that halted Trump's decision to terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. After President Trump announced last September his decision to end the DACA program, four states filed legal challenges to his decision.
Read moreDream Come True
OPINION: How the Immigration Landscape Changed in 2017
When Donald Trump won the election, many immigrants and their advocates feared the worst. Now that President Trump has been in office for over a year, I wish I could write that everyone’s fears were overblown, but that simply isn’t true. The administration’s actions have met and in some cases exceeded the worst fears of many immigrants and immigration practitioners.
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