The Supreme Court rejected the Trump administration’s request to bypass the U.S. Courts of Appeals on Feb. 26, which would have sped up the administration’s attempt to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. This decision will keep DACA going for an unknown amount of time while the request goes through the courts of appeals, however new applicants and renewals are still blocked.
UC Regents, as well as 15 states including California, filed court cases against the Department of Homeland Security in response to the DACA repeal, which protects
about 700,000 young people in the U.S.
“As we argued to the Court, it was inappropriate for the Trump administration to short circuit standard appellate procedure and attempt to skip the U.S. Court of Appeals — a precipitous approach that echoes the government’s procedurally improper rescission of DACA at the heart of this case,” UC Office of the President said in a press release on Feb. 26.
UC president and former secretary of homeland security under the Obama administration Janet Napolitano has been the prominent advocate of the UC Regents v. the Department of Homeland Security case.
In September, President Donald Trump gave Congress until March 5 to create an alternative program. With that deadline quickly approaching, it is highly unlikely that Congress will pass new legislation to protect DACA recipients. The Supreme Court decision will not protect the DACA program or extend the application period for the program, the decision only establishes that the court case must pass through standard judicial process. Migration Policy Institute estimates after March 5 an estimated 915 undocumented people could lose their work permits daily until 2020.
