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The Supreme Court has Saved DACA

May 5th, 2022

The Supreme Court has ruled that the Trump Administration’s attempt to terminate the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program was unlawful.

In September of 2017, Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security issued an order rescinding and terminating the DACA program. Several lawsuits were subsequently filed which stayed the implementation of the rescission order. Decisions from those court cases were eventually appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States and on June 18, 2020, days after the Supreme Court upheld the rights of the LGBT community, it ruled that the action taken by the Department of Homeland Security was unlawful.

This is a tremendous moment for so many individuals in our community who rely on the authorizations they obtained through the DACA program to lawfully live and work in the United States, as they may continue to renew their work permits and work legally in the U.S . There may even be the possibility that new DACA applications be accepted for some.

It is also important for those individuals with DACA benefits to appreciate that this order did not determine that DACA was immune from future efforts by the Trump Administration to eliminate it. The Court merely ruled that there were doubts that DHS properly considered the issues so it remanded it to DHS so that it may consider it once again.

“We address only whether the agency complied with the procedural requirement that it provide a reasoned explanation for its action. Here the agency failed to consider the conspicuous issues of whether to retain forbearance and what if anything to do about the hardship to DACA recipients. That dual failure raises doubts about whether the agency appreciated the scope of its discretion or exercised that discretion in a reasonable manner. The appropriate recourse is therefore to remand to DHS so that it may consider the problem anew.” (Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California, 590 U.S. ___, (2020))

DACA beneficiaries must therefore continue to search for alternatives to obtain permanent legal status in the US (such as marriage based Green Cards and family residency petitions) as DACA will not last indefinitely.

It is our hope that congress will introduce legislation to provide permanent status for DACA recipients and enact effective immigration reform beneficial to our country and its constituents; and that our immigration system will not continue to be at the mercy of Executive Orders. If you are interested in legalizing your immigration status and want to evaluate your options please schedule an appointment with one of our experienced immigration lawyers in Boston by calling: (617) 303-2600 or request your appointment online.