DOJ defends Trump administration’s right to end DACA ahead of Supreme Court ruling

Make sure to let us know what you think... we now have comments turned ON below the article!

In 2012, then-President Barack Obama implemented the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, an initiative blocking the enforcement of immigration laws on those who entered the country illegally as young children temporarily — until Congress could find a final resolution. In 2017, President Donald Trump’s administration attempted to rescind the discretionary DACA program, but was blocked by district and circuit courts.

The ensuing battle has now made its way to the Supreme Court, and ahead of the court’s decision, the Justice Department has filed a brief arguing that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) does indeed has the authority to end the discretionary policy of non-enforcement.

DACA heads to Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in the consequential DACA case in November and should issue a ruling on the matter in early 2020, just ahead of the general election campaign season.

In previous months, lower courts have ruled against the administration’s position and even issued nationwide injunctions that prevented the DHS from making any changes to the DACA program, much less end it entirely.

But the Department of Justice (DOJ) has argued that the lower courts were wrong to impose nationwide injunctions, that DHS holds full authority to revise its own interpretations of the laws, and that, in light of similar discretionary programs being struck down by other courts, DACA was most likely unlawful and should be ended as well.

DACA “legally questionable” at best, “illegal” at worst

The DOJ recently filed a legal brief with the Supreme Court that outlined the history of the program and background of the case as it worked its way through the court system, citing precedents and statutes along the way in which DHS was granted the authority necessary to decide the fate of the DACA program.

“At best, DACA is legally questionable; at worst, it is illegal,” the DOJ argued. “Either way, DACA is similar to, if not materially indistinguishable from, the policies — including an expansion of DACA itself — that the Fifth Circuit previously held were contrary to federal immigration law in a decision that this Court affirmed by an equally divided vote.

“In the face of those decisions, DHS reasonably determined — based on both legal concerns and enforcement priorities — that it no longer wished to retain DACA. Yet two nationwide preliminary injunctions have forced DHS to maintain this entirely discretionary policy for nearly two years,” the brief continued.

Fate of DACA hangs in the balance

The DOJ also took issue with the explicit reasoning of the lower court rulings and argued that the Administrative Procedures Act didn’t require DHS to retain a policy that in all likelihood was unlawful, as such a decision rested solely within the executive branch and likely wasn’t even reviewable by the courts under the provisions of that statute.

“But even if DHS’s decision were reviewable, DHS’s legal and policy justifications for discontinuing DACA were not remotely arbitrary or capricious,” the DOJ argued. “DACA was created as a temporary, stopgap measure in 2012, after legislative efforts to provide permanent immigration relief for a similar class of aliens repeatedly failed.”

The brief went on: “DHS has offered a number of reasons why it now wishes to withdraw that policy and instead enforce the [Immigration and Naturalization Act] as written, and the lower courts’ criticisms of those rationales do not withstand scrutiny.”

It remains to be seen how the Supreme Court will rule on the DHS effort to end the DACA program, but given the fact that decisions to end related and similar programs have been upheld by the courts, the existence of compelling legal arguments on executive authority, and the currently conservative nature of the court, the odds are in favor of the Trump administration ultimately prevailing in this ongoing legal saga.

285 Responses

  1. Do you mind if I quote a couple of your articles as long as I provide credit and sources back to your website? My website is in the exact same niche as yours and my visitors would really benefit from some of the information you provide here. Please let me know if this okay with you. Thanks!

  2. Get help to stop drinking. Helping women quit drinking alcohol. Coach Mary Wagstaff. Feel better, mind, body and soul. Mindfulness based coaching and alcohol recovery. Yoga for recovery.

  3. Get help to stop drinking. Helping women quit drinking alcohol. Coach Mary Wagstaff. Feel better, mind, body and soul. Mindfulness based coaching and alcohol recovery. Yoga for recovery.

  4. I’m very pleased to find this site. I wanted to thank you for your time for this wonderful read!! I definitely really liked every little bit of it and i also have you saved to fav to see new things on your blog.

  5. Howdy! This post couldn’t be written any better! Looking through this article reminds me of my previous roommate! He continually kept preaching about this. I most certainly will send this post to him. Fairly certain he will have a very good read. Many thanks for sharing!

  6. Currently you are able to do a little something regarding your excess weight as well as your health. A thing that will work fast. Rather quick also. Absolutely nothing this successful is “easy”, but This is certainly as simple as it’ll ever get. It’s also tasty and satisfying, making use of standard foods You should buy anywhere.

  7. I really wanted to write down a simple remark so as to appreciate you for all the magnificent advice you are giving here. My considerable internet look up has finally been honored with high-quality facts and strategies to share with my best friends. I ‘d state that that most of us readers actually are unequivocally fortunate to live in a notable website with many outstanding professionals with very beneficial concepts. I feel pretty privileged to have used your weblog and look forward to really more awesome times reading here. Thank you once more for all the details.

  8. We are one of Utah’s highest-rated barbershop. We are a small team of barbers providing the best men’s haircuts in salt lake city, Utah. We have been in business for over 6 years and with over 300 5 star reviews on both Yelp and Google.

  9. Hello there! This post could not be written much better! Looking at this post reminds me of my previous roommate! He continually kept talking about this. I’ll send this information to him. Pretty sure he will have a good read. I appreciate you for sharing!

  10. It’s appropriate time to make some plans for the future and it’s time to be happy. I have read this post and if I could I desire to suggest you some interesting things or advice. Maybe you could write next articles referring to this article. I want to read even more things about it!

  11. You really make it appear really easy along with your presentation however I find this topic to be actually something that I believe I might by no means understand. It kind of feels too complex and very broad for me. I am looking ahead in your next put up, I will try to get the hang of it!

  12. Howdy just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The text in your content seem to be running off the screen in Safari. I’m not sure if this is a formatting issue or something to do with browser compatibility but I thought I’d post to let you know. The design look great though! Hope you get the issue fixed soon. Many thanks

  13. I was more than happy to find this great site. I need to to thank you for ones time for this wonderful read!! I definitely appreciated every part of it and I have you saved as a favorite to see new information in your website.

  14. Hello, i think that i saw you visited my site so i came to “return the favor”.I am attempting to find things to enhance my website!I suppose its ok to use some of your ideas!!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Popular