The uncertainty of DACA in 2020

Paulina Longoria | THE RIDER

As the Trump administration continues to find new ways to end the program, the future of DACA remains uncertain for more than 600,000 active recipients across the nation, including about 900 at UTRGV. 

Last Tuesday, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra signed a court filing requesting the Trump administration to hold a conference with the Supreme Court to challenge the Department of Homeland Security memorandum signed by Acting Secretary Chad F. Wolf on July 28, which requires changes to DACA.

“Given the above, Plaintiffs expect to bring challenges to the Wolf Memorandum and believe that a status conference would be helpful to discuss how best to proceed in this matter, including an orderly process for amending the complaints and receiving an administrative record with respect to the Wolf Memorandum,” the filing states. 

Even though the Trump administration disagrees with the arguments of Becerra’s letter, it does not oppose its request.

“We have met and conferred with Defendants regarding our plans and shared the substance of this letter with them. Counsel for Defendants requested that we report their position as follows: “Defendants disagree with most of the factual and legal arguments in Plaintiffs’ letter, but do not oppose Plaintiffs’ request for a status conference,” the filing also states.

In response to the Supreme Court’s decision on DACA earlier this summer, Wolf directed DHS personnel to:

–take all appropriate actions to reject all pending and future initial requests for DACA;

–reject all Page 2 pending and future applications for advance parole absent exceptional circumstances;

–and shorten DACA renewals consistent with the parameters established in this memorandum.

“By this memorandum, I am rescinding the 2017 and 2018 memoranda, and making certain immediate changes to the DACA policy to facilitate my thorough consideration of how to address DACA in light of the Supreme Court’s decision,” the memorandum states.

On June 18, the Supreme Court issued a ruling stating the Trump administration must commit to leaving DACA in place and immediately open new applications, according to the Moving America Forward (FWD.us) website.

FWD.us is a bipartisan political organization that believes America’s families, communities and economy thrive when more individuals are able to achieve their full potential, according to its website.

In Department of Homeland Security et al. v. Regents of the University of California et al., the Supreme Court ruled: “We address only whether the agency complied with the procedural requirement that it provide a reasoned explanation for its action. Here the agency failed to consider the conspicuous issues of whether to retain forbearance and what if anything to do about the hardship to DACA recipients. That dual failure raises doubts about whether the agency appreciated the scope of its discretion or exercised that discretion in a reasonable manner. The appropriate recourse is therefore to remand to DHS so that it may consider the problem anew.”

The holding of the case was “The Department of Homeland Security’s decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program was arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure,” according to the Supreme Court of the United States blog.

UTRGV Political Science Professor Terence Garrett told The Rider that changes are not likely to happen because of the Supreme Court’s decision against the Trump administration.

He also said he predicts that even though the Supreme Court has already made a decision, the Trump administration may try other ways to implement changes to DACA.

“Just because the Trump administration wants to eliminate DACA … [it] doesn’t mean necessarily they’ll be successful at it,” Garrett said. “They tried to eliminate the program, but the [Supreme] Court said no. That’s something they cannot just simply do; they have to figure out a way to deal with it.”

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) was an executive order issued by President Barack Obama in 2012. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced it would not deport undocumented youth who came to the U.S. as children and granted the temporary permission to legally stay in the country as a deferred action.

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Paulina Longoria

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