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Supreme Court - DACA Survives For Now

By Hubert Plummer posted 06-18-2020 01:18 PM

  

In another blow to the Trump Administration, the Supreme Court issued another ruling today striking down a key administration policy.  President Trump had vowed to end DACA, the Delayed Action for Childhood Arrivals that provided a pathway to legal status for children brought to the US by their parents without proper documentation.

I discussed DACA in August 2018[i].  The Trump administration decided to end DACA which would endanger many people who signed up for it in good faith.  At that time the NAACP sued and the government was ordered to reinstate DACA.  That case was consolidated with two others at the Supreme Court.[ii]

In a 5-4 decision with Justice Roberts joining the more liberal justices and writing the opinion, the court stated that the Department of Homeland Security did not present sufficient reason for ending the program early and sent the case back to DHS to reconsider their position.[iii]  So this was not a decision based on the merits of the program but on procedural grounds.  The government can reverse a policy, but they must show a good reason.

This ruling does not completely save DACA.  The DHS could still try to end it with better reasoning and a better basis for their decision.  For now, though, DACA is alive and those who were brought here as children and have never known any other country are not at risk for deportation to a place they have no connection to.[iv]

[i] https://communities.nysba.org/blogs/hubert-g-plummer-esq/2018/08/03/daca-decision

[ii] https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/trump-v-naacp/

[iii] https://www.scotusblog.com/2020/06/opinion-analysis-court-rejects-trump-administrations-effort-to-end-daca/

[iv] https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/19pdf/18-587_5ifl.pdf


The author[s] is solely responsible for this blog submission.  It does not represent the position of the New York State Bar Association or its Committee.

 

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