DACA will be restored, a federal judge ordered
DACA will be restored, a federal judge ordered
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On Friday, December 4, a federal judge ordered the restoration of an Obama-era immigration program called DACA and the acceptance of new applicants for the first time since 2017. This program sought to keep people that arrived in the United States as children from being deported.
DACA stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. It was a program that allowed people who arrived in the country as children to avoid deportation and receive temporary immigration status. It entered into force on June 15, 2012, but on September 5, 2017, the Trump administration announced it was terminating it. The recipients were known as “Dreamers.”
According to information from CBS News, judge Nicholas Garaufis of the US District Court in Brooklyn, New York, instructed the DHS (Department of Homeland Security) to “post a public notice by Monday that states the department will accept and adjudicate Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) petitions from immigrants who qualify for the program but are not currently enrolled in it.”
In addition to this, work permits for up to two years will also be granted to approved applicants. This is one more year than the one-year period the Trump administration had proposed a few months ago.
How many people could benefit from applying for DACA?
CBS News said in an article published on December 5 that there is an estimated one million undocumented immigrants that could benefit from this new order. This number includes approximately 300,000 teenagers and young adults that could soon apply for the immigration program.
According to information we shared with you previously, DACA has shielded from deportation roughly 700,000 undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as children. Now that the program is being restored, thousands more could benefit from it. The program would also allow current enrollees to request “advance parole” and enable them to travel abroad and return to the US.
DACA allows these immigrants to live and work legally in the country if they arrived in the United States before 2007 and were under the age of 16. The same applied to those who arrived before June 15, 2012, and were under 31 years old.
Among other requirements were that they had to be enrolled in a school, have a high school diploma, be a military veteran, and have a mostly clean criminal record.
What is the DHS opinion on restoring DACA?
Chase Jennings, a DHS spokesperson interviewed by CBS News, said that the department would comply with the order but will appeal it.
“DHS wholly disagrees with this decision by yet another activist judge acting from his own policy preferences. Judge Garaufis’ latest decision, similar to his earlier inaccurate ruling, is clearly not sound law or logic,” Jennings said in a statement to CBS News. “We will abide by this decision while we work with (the Justice Department) on next steps to appeal,” he said.
Nonetheless, the order mandates DHS to post a public notice by Monday that it will accept and begin making judgments for new DACA applications for those who qualify for the program but are not currently enrolled, as you can read in a news article published on December 6 by WTRF.
“The court rightly recognized that their home is here”
Karen Tumlin, one of the lawyers representing DACA beneficiaries and prospective applicants interviewed by CBS News, said that this order is very positive for “more than one million immigrant youth” who will now be able to secure their future in the United States.
“Our brave plaintiffs have said from the beginning of this lawsuit that their home is here, and the court rightly recognized that today,” she told the said news website.
Judge Garaufis’ order followed another ruling he issued recently in November where he found that DHS secretary Chad Wolf did not have the legal authority to close DACA to new applicants, as well as shorten the validity period of their work permits and protect them from deportation. The judge determined that Wolf violated the Homeland Security Act of 2002.
However, Garaufis is not alone; other federal judges have also raised alarms and questions about the legality of Wolf’s appointment. On Friday, December 4, he also set aside Wolf’s memo to ban new applicants and limits on current protections and permits for work.
What will happen when Joe Biden takes office?
President-elect Joe Biden has vowed to shield DACA recipients from deportation and introduce a proposal in Congress that will allow them to gain permanent legal status.
You can read more about DACA in the following articles:
Can a DUI conviction affect my DACA status and lead to deportation?
If you need help with your DACA status or would like to know if you qualify, please contact an immigration lawyer today.