Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois and Kamala Harris of California lead Democratic senators in demanding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. As policy experts have noted, the court’s decision was certified on Monday, yet the Trump administration has still not fully reinstated the program.
“In June, a landmark Supreme Court decision rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to repeal DACA, calling it ‘arbitrary and capricious,’” Durbin tweeted. He writes that Monday’s deadline came and went, “but there’s no indication that the Trump DHS has taken any steps to reopen DACA for new applicants.”
Center for American Progress (CAP) policy experts said that the Supreme Court’s ruling was certified on Monday, meaning the Trump administration has “an unambiguous obligation to fully reinstate DACA,” including opening the program to new applicants and reinstating advance parole, which allows some DACA recipients to travel internationally for specific reasons. But “[a]s of the date of publication, the Trump administration is in open defiance of the law,” CAP experts said.
“Your agency has had ample opportunity to prepare for the recent Supreme Court decision,” 33 Democratic senators tell acting Department of Homeland Security Sec. Chad Wolf. (Recall those reports that federal immigration officials had actually been reopening the long-closed immigration cases of DACA recipients in anticipation of a negative decision.) “However, to date, Congress and the American people have not received any information regarding your agency’s compliance with the Court’s holding.”
“The stakes are high,” the senators continued. “More than 800,000 Dreamers have come forward and received DACA.”
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“Since the Trump administration rescinded DACA on September 5, 2017, USCIS has not accepted initial DACA applications from Dreamers who are eligible for DACA but have never received this protection,” the senators said. “For example, children who have turned 15, the youngest age at which someone can receive DACA, have been blocked from applying since the DACA rescission. The Center for American Progress estimates that approximately 300,000 Dreamers who have never received DACA are now eligible to apply for the program, including 55,500 young people who have turned 15 since September 5, 2017.
“Now that 25 days have passed, the Roberts decision requires your immediate compliance,” they continue to Wolf. “We await your prompt assurance that you will respect the Court’s decision and reopen DACA for all eligible applicants.” Notably missing from this letter demanding the Trump administration obey the Supreme Court’s ruling are any Republican senators, not one of whom apparently had the courage to stand up to this administration’s lawlessness and defend young immigrants.
“The Supreme Court preserved DACA on June 18 and that means USCIS has had almost a month to prepare for accepting new DACA applications,” Harris tweeted. ”@SenatorDurbin and I are pushing to ensure USCIS is ready—and they better have a plan.”
