Supreme Court’s Ruling on DACA is ‘Temporary Victory’ for Dreamers

In its dismissal, the Court said the government’s appeal of U.S. District Judge William Alsup’s January ruling-which said Trump’s attempt to end DACA was illegal-should go through the regular judicial process and be taken up first by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

A court filing said “the petition for a writ of certiorari before judgment is denied without prejudice”.

DACA, which stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, offers two-year work permits and protections from deportation to undocumented people who came to the United States as children.

When Trump rescinded Obama’s DACA executive order, he gave it an expiration date of six months.

Because Congress now appears deadlocked on possible action on the future of the DACA program, the Justices’ action on Monday leaves that question up to the courts, at least for the time being.

The decision by the Supreme Court to not hear the case allows the lower courts’ decision to remain in place and for the renewal applications to continue to be accepted, but not allowing those who would now qualify for the program to submit new applications.

He points out that the appeals courts could rule by this summer and then the Supreme Court would “probably not rule until next year”.

It’s left an uncertain road forward for DACA recipients and lawmakers pressing their case.

That means the March 5 deadline essentially is no longer of any significance and those benefiting from DACA can keep applying to renew permits that protect them from deportation and allow them to have a work permit and other documents, as long as they meet certain criteria.

Recent weeks saw federal judges in California and NY issue injunctions against ending DACA, which Trump had set to expire on March 5. Thereafter, the administration recommenced acceptance of DACA renewal applications. “But because of President Trump’s decision, there is a built-in uncertainty in the lives of nearly 1 million people in this country”, Durbin said.

The case was originally heard by a federal court in San Francisco. President Donald Trump said the case will now be heard by an appeals court and that “we’ll see what happens from there”.

Abraham Diaz, a Dreamer and education specialist with LUPE, said the decision Monday was “a small victory” for DACA. He said of that particular appeals court that “every single case is against us” in the Ninth Circuit.

There were two issues in the case: whether the acting DHS Secretary’s policy to wind down the DACA program was judicially renewable, and whether the policy was lawful.

For now, the Trump administration’s policy is being considered by the San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, which has ruled against the president in other challenges. “The district judge’s decision unilaterally to re-impose a programme that Congress had explicitly and repeatedly rejected is a usurpation of legislative authority”. Democrats hope to regain control of at least one house of Congress in the midterm elections, which would give them considerably more of a say in any legislation.

Almost 700,000 undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children – a group known colloquially as Dreamers – have been able to receive work permits under the programme, which was started in 2012 by former President Barack Obama.