DACA’s future rests with Congress, courts

Since it was introduced in June 2012, DACA has given hundreds of thousands of people who came to the country illegally as children two-year, renewable permits to live and work.

By: AP | San Diego | Published: February 27, 2018 9:53 am

Immigrant advocates and their allies in Congress want a narrower bill that would protect DACA recipients, possibly combined with limited border enforcement measures, but the administration has balked. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to consider the Trump administration’s unusual request to overrule a judge who kept alive a program that shields young immigrants from deportation.

The administration went directly to the nation’s highest court after U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco decided in January that beneficiaries of the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program could apply for renewals.

The Supreme Court’s refusal to let the administration leapfrog appeals courts means that DACA stays for at least a few months and perhaps until well after midterm elections. In September, the administration said it was ending DACA, calling it an abuse of executive power, but gave Congress until March 5 to develop a legislative fix.

Here is where DACA stands in Congress and the courts:

WHAT IS DACA?

Since it was introduced in June 2012, DACA has given hundreds of thousands of people who came to the country illegally as children two-year, renewable permits to live and work. To qualify, they needed to have arrived before their 16th birthday, been under 31 in June 2012, completed high school or served in the military, and have clean criminal records.

Nearly 690,000 people were enrolled when the Trump administration said in September that it was ending the program in six months, eight out of 10 from Mexico. Those whose permits expired by March 5 had a month to apply for renewal.

WHERE DO THE COURTS STAND ON DACA?

Alsup ruled Jan. 9 that the administration failed to justify ending the program and that the plaintiffs _ California, Maine, Maryland and Minnesota as well as the University of California _ had a good chance of winning at trial. A nationwide injunction forced the administration to resume accepting renewal requests within a week but it did not apply to first-time applicants.

U.S. District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis in New York issued a similar ruling in February.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals put its review of Alsup’s decision on fast track, but legal experts don’t expect a decision until June at the earliest. From there, it is expected to go to the Supreme Court.

WHERE DOES CONGRESS STAND ON DACA?

In January, the president proposed a path to citizenship for 1.8 million young immigrants as part of an immigration package that included $25 billion for a wall and other border enforcement measures and sharp cuts to legal immigration. The Senate rejected it.

Congress must pass a spending bill by March 23 to keep the government running, giving Democrats a chance to condition support on a DACA bill. Democrats forced a partial shutdown in January with that goal in mind but relented after three days.

Stephen W. Yale-Loehr, a Cornell University law professor, said the Supreme Court’s refusal to intervene “throws the DACA program back into Congress’ lap.”

IS THE MARCH 5 DEADLINE NO LONGER MEANINGFUL?

The court battle removes some urgency surrounding Trump’s March 5 deadline but DACA recipients whose permits expired are still at risk while they wait for their renewals to be granted.

In February, former Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, now Trump’s chief of staff, scrapped the Obama administration’s policy of limiting deportations to people who pose a public safety threat, convicted criminals and those who have crossed the border recently, effectively making anyone in the country illegally vulnerable. Deportation arrests have surged more than 40 percent under Trump.

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