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What Is DACA? And How Did It End Up in the Supreme Court? What Is DACA? And How Did It End Up in the Supreme Court?
(about 5 hours later)
The Supreme Court blocked the Trump administration on Thursday from going ahead with its plan, announced in 2017, to end a program called DACA that protects about 700,000 young immigrants known as Dreamers from deportation. The Supreme Court is hearing arguments on Tuesday in a case that will serve as an important test of the Trump administration’s hard-line immigration agenda, involving a small but politically powerful group of unauthorized immigrants known as Dreamers.
The ruling did not address the merits of the program or the decision to end it; the court ruled only on whether the administration had acted lawfully in trying. The White House is free to try again. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, offered the group temporary protection from deportation without a pathway to citizenship — a move broadly supported by Americans of all political affiliations.
Still, the 5-4 ruling, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. joining with the court’s four more liberal justices, was a significant setback for Mr. Trump, who had promised in his election campaign to “immediately terminate” the program. The justices will determine whether the Trump administration acted lawfully in September 2017 when it ended the program, using a bare-bones rescission memo that legal experts say may have weakened the government’s standing in court.
Here’s what DACA, or the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, is all about. Here’s what the justices are weighing:
The program was introduced in 2012 by President Barack Obama as a stopgap measure to shield from deportation people who were brought into the United States as children and did not have citizenship or legal residency status. The protection lasts for two years at a time, and is renewable. The program does not provide a pathway to citizenship. The program was introduced in 2012 by President Barack Obama as a stopgap measure that would shield from deportation people who were brought into the United States as children. The status is renewable, lasting two years at a time. The program does not provide a pathway to citizenship.
Participation in the program comes with a range of benefits. Along with permission to remain in the country, recipients can also get work permits, and can obtain health insurance from employers who offer it. Participation in the program comes with a range of benefits. Along with permission to remain in the country, recipients can also get work permits, through which many have obtained health insurance from their employers.
The ability to work legally has also allowed them to pay for school, pursue higher education and, in some states, to obtain drivers’ licenses. They can qualify for in-state tuition and state-funded educational grants and loans in some states. Depending on where they live, they may also qualify for state-subsidized health insurance. The ability to work has also allowed them to pay for school, pursue higher education and, in some states, drive legally. The program also opened up access to in-state tuition and state-funded grants and loans in some states. And depending on where they live, recipients can also qualify for state-subsidized health care.
Since the Trump administration moved to end it in 2017, no new applications have been accepted, but immigrant advocates have managed to keep it partially alive for existing participants through legal challenges. Lower courts have decided that people who already have protected status would be able to renew it until the Supreme Court issued a final ruling. Since the Trump administration moved to end it in 2017, no new applications to the program have been accepted, but immigrant advocates have managed to keep it partially alive through legal challenges in which lower courts have decided that people who already have the status should be able to renew it until the Supreme Court issues a final ruling.
The court’s decision on Thursday maintains that status quo. The Trump administration must now either give up trying to end DACA, or else provide a lower court with a more robust justification for ending it than it has offered so far. That process is likely to take many months, putting the administration’s assault on the program in limbo until after the November election. DACA recipients are often referred to as Dreamers, after a similar piece of legislation called the Dream Act, which was introduced in 2001 and would have given its beneficiaries a path to American citizenship. The average DACA holder is now 25 years old, and the oldest is 37; the vast majority came from Mexico, though many others were born in Central and South America, Asia and the Caribbean. The status has been issued to roughly 800,000 people.
DACA recipients are often referred to as Dreamers, after a similar piece of legislation called the Dream Act, which was introduced in 2001 and would have given its beneficiaries a path to American citizenship as well as protection from deportation. Recipients who are not veterans must be enrolled in high school or already have a diploma or G.E.D. to qualify. Contrary to what President Trump has said, including in a Twitter post on Tuesday, anyone with a serious criminal history (defined as a felony or serious misdemeanor conviction, or three misdemeanor convictions) is not eligible. Check out these charts that illustrate their demographics.
On average, people shielded by DACA are now in their mid-20s; the oldest are in their late 30s. The vast majority were brought to the United States from Mexico, though many others were born in Central or South America, Asia or the Caribbean. It came about after more than a decade of failed negotiations in Congress over how to deal with the Dreamers. The Dream Act never passed, but it gained widespread popularity among the American electorate and, at various points, both houses of Congress, hatching much of the political activism that is propelling the current debate.
To qualify, an applicant had to be enrolled in high school or already have a diploma or G.E.D., or have served in the military. Contrary to what President Trump has said, people with serious criminal histories (meaning a felony or serious misdemeanor conviction, or three convictions for any type of misdemeanor) are not eligible. These charts illustrate their demographics. President Trump ended the program in 2017 after nine conservative state attorneys general with hard-line views on immigration threatened to sue him over the policy, arguing that it represented an overreach of presidential power. Mr. Trump had equivocated publicly over the program, but ultimately he called on Congress to come up with a replacement within months.
Mr. Obama created it through an executive order in 2012 after more than a decade of failed negotiations in Congress over how to deal with the Dreamers. The Dream Act was never passed, but it gained widespread support among voters and, at various points, in each house of Congress.
After equivocating publicly over the program, Mr. Trump announced in 2017 that he would end DACA after nine conservative state attorneys general with hard-line views on immigration threatened to sue him, arguing that Mr. Obama had overreached his authority in creating it. Mr. Trump called on Congress to come up with a replacement.
His rescission order offered only the overreach argument, not any other reason for scrapping the program. The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that it was not legally sufficient.