Explained: What new ruling says about DACA and the way ahead for Trump

The recipients of DACA are young people who have grown up as Americans who had no way to gain legal residency even though they have lived in the US most of their lives but the DREAM Act provided a pathway to US citizenship to certain undocumented youth who go to college and/or serve in the military while maintaining a good record.

A judge on Saturday rejected the White House’s limitations on the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program which protects 700,000 so-called “Dreamers”, or undocumented migrants, brought to the United States as children. The federal judge in New York ruled that Donald Trump’s acting homeland security secretary Chad Wolf was not lawfully serving in his role when he issued the new rules for the DACA program in July. The ruling is another victory for proponents of the Barack Obama-era program after the US supreme court in June rejected Trump’s cancellation of it.

Department of homeland security acting secretary Chad Wolf whose position was ruled unlawful by a federal judge in New York on November 14, 2020 which thereby invalidated Wolf's suspension of DACA program that shields young people from deportation.(AP)

Here’s everything you need to know about DACA:

What is DACA?

The recipients of DACA are young people who have grown up as Americans. As most of these young people had no way to gain legal residency even though they have lived in the US most of their lives, the DREAM Act provided a pathway to US citizenship to certain undocumented youth who go to college and/or serve in the military while maintaining a good record. Therefore, DACA enables certain people who came to the US as children and meet several key guidelines to request consideration for deferred action; allowing non-US citizens who qualify to remain in the country for two years, subject to renewal.

What happened in June 2020?

On June 18, 2020, the supreme court blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to end DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) in a 5-4 ruling and maintained the program, allowing DACA recipients to renew membership. In 2017, President Trump ordered an end to the DACA program which was issued in an executive order in 2012 by then President Obama. After the Trump administration ordered an end to DACA, several lawsuits were filed against the order. Two federal appellate courts have now ruled against the administration, allowing previous DACA recipients to renew their deferred action, and the supreme court agreed to review the legal challenges.

 

What is the fresh controversy on DACA?

Saturday’s ruling said that Chad Wolf, who has not been confirmed in his role by the US senate, issued new restrictions on the program in response to the supreme court ruling. Thus, his restrictions “effectively suspended” DACA and said that new applications would not be accepted as renewals would be limited to one year instead of two. All these restrictions were declared invalid by the supreme court because “the court holds that Mr. Wolf was not lawfully serving as acting secretary of homeland security” when he issued the restrictions.

What is the way ahead for the Trump administration?

The ruling is the second defeat for the Trump administration after June 2020 as Trump entered office promising to halt almost all immigration and end the DACA program. It is still unclear what steps the Trump administration would take. On the other hand, President-elect Joe Biden, who defeated Trump in the November 3 polls, has pledged to reinstate the DACA program when he takes office on January 20.

(With agency inputs)