Supreme Court Declines to Take Up DACA Case, Likely Meaning Program Stays in Place for Foreseeable Future

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The Supreme Court has declined to hear a case involving President Trump’s authority to end the immigration-protection program known as DACA, likely signaling the program’s continuance for at least several months.  The program’s original end date was March 5.

President Trump ended the DACA program last September but gave Congress six months to come up for a legislative six for its recipients.  Under the program, immigrants who were brought to the country illegally, but as young children, are allowed to remain as long as work, education and legal conditions are met.

Despite ending the program President Trump indicated a desire to see a permanent solution to the program pass in the Congress.  His administration has even proposed a pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients, a step further than even pro-immigration activists had proposed.

Repeated attempts to see a permanent solution to DACA pass through the Congress however, have failed as part of larger immigration-reform negotiations.

Today’s decision allows lower courts’ decisions to stand and likely means that the program will continue past March 5.  Two federal judges had previously struck down Trump’s rescission of the program, ruling that the program must continue until a “decision on the merits” in other lawsuits brought over the program’s ending is made.

The Supreme Court’s decision was not wholly unexpected as no appellate court has reviewed those lower courts’ decisions, and it is exceedingly rare for the Supreme Court to hear a case bypassing that step.

In a statement, the White House reiterated its view that the DACA program, the result of an executive action by former President Obama and not by Congress is illegal.

“The district judge’s decision unilaterally to reimpose a program that Congress had explicitly and repeatedly rejected is a usurpation of legislative authority,” White House spokesman Raj Shah said.

“The fact that this occurs at a time when elected representatives in Congress are actively debating this policy only underscores that the district judge has unwisely intervened in the legislative process.”

Congress returns from a week-long winter recess today, but it is unclear whether any new attempts at DACA legislation will be made prior to March 5.

 

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