For more than three weeks since the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration unlawfully ended the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, officials have refused to allow for new applications. The “law and order” administration is now defying the court by not fully reopening the program to thousands of new enrollees, policy experts with the Center for American Progress (CAP) write.
“Today, 25 days after the decision, the Supreme Court will certify its judgement in the case, and—under the law—the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will have an unambiguous obligation to fully reinstate DACA,” they wrote. “As of the date of publication, the Trump administration is in open defiance of the law.”
The Trump administration should have immediately begun to accept new applicants following the Supreme Court’s decision last month, but CAP notes that all the federal immigration agency that processes this paperwork has done in the weeks since is to release a radical, Trumpian statement claiming the decision has “no basis in law.”
“Notwithstanding the Supreme Court’s decision to vacate the administration’s 2017 DACA rescission memorandum, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has taken no public steps to restore DACA to the way it operated pre-rescission,” CAP wrote. “Rather, the agency has been silent—with exception of a post-decision statement that opened by questioning the legitimacy of the Supreme Court itself.”
“With public statements indicating that the administration is committed to trying a second time to end DACA and reports that the rescission would take place last week, the Trump administration has yet to comply with the court ruling in any way,” CAP continued. “Today, the administration should announce that it will end its attacks on DACA recipients and reopen the program to new applicants.”
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CAP reports that 300,000 young immigrants should be eligible to apply for the first time, including 55,500 teens who’ve turned 15 since the administration’s rescission of the program in 2017. (The Migration Policy Institute estimates that number is slightly higher at 66,000.)
“Because the Trump administration denied these young people the opportunity to apply for DACA, they never established a direct reliance on DACA’s protections,” CAP said. “During this time, however, many of them undoubtedly saw opportunities open up for their older siblings, peers, and classmates, as well as other people in their communities. Once they are allowed to apply, the data show that it will not take long for them to see DACA’s benefits.”
But that’s only if they’re allowed to apply. Instead, this is becoming yet another instance where Americans—and those who are American in every way but on a piece of paper—are waiting to see if the administration acts lawfully, or continues to say the rules don’t apply to it or its friends. Recent example: the commutation of Roger Stone’s sentence, convicted last year on seven felony counts including lying to Congress.
“An overwhelming majority of the American people support DACA recipients and their families and they’d like the program to continue,” the Home Is Here Coalition said in a statement received by Daily Kos. “Together, we call on the Trump administration to follow the Supreme Court ruling. Right now, there are thousands of undocumented young people who could receive protections from deportation, much needed protections that would keep families together and protected from ICE and CBP, which continue to terrorize communities across the country with their enforcement efforts.”
