Federal judge orders Trump administration to fully reopen DACA to new applications

by Gabe Ortiz

Daily Kos Staff

Friday, Dec. 04, 2020 Friday, Dec. 04, 2020 at 2:12:38pm PST

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 12: Students and supporters rally in support of DACA recipients on the day the Supreme Court hears arguments in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) case on November 12, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. Hundreds of students walked out of their schools to protest and rally in defense of DACA and immigrant rights. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) — "Students and supporters rally in support of DACA recipients on the day the Supreme Court hears arguments in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) case on November 12, 2019 in Los Angeles, California."

A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to fully reopen the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program as it was prior to its 2017 rescission and accept new applications, CBS News reports:

BREAKING — US Judge Nicholas Garaufis has ordered the Trump administration to fully restore DACA, instructing DHS to open the Obama-era program to new applicants for the first time since 2017.

Follow @CBSNews for more. pic.twitter.com/QpExWvY4WS
— Camilo Montoya-Galvez (@camiloreports) December 4, 2020

Federal judge Nicholas Garaufis had last month ruled that because Chad Wolf was unlawfully appointed acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the memo he signed this past summer refusing to accept new applications was also invalid. Advocates say that Garaufis’ Friday order states that “[b]y the end of the day on Monday, USCIS must put a public notice on their website declaring that DACA is back to the status it had before it was ended in 2017.”