US brings back protections for young immigrants
Demonstrators rally outside the US Supreme Court as justices were scheduled to hear oral arguments in the consolidation of three cases before the court regarding the Trump administration’s bid to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in Washington, US, on November 12, 2019.
The Trump administration said on Monday that it had fully restored the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that shields hundreds of thousands of young people from deportation, complying with a federal judge’s order.
The Department of Homeland Security posted on its website that it is accepting new applications, petitions for two-year renewals and requests for permission to temporarily leave the US.
The department said it “may seek relief from the order,” signaling that its concession to the court order may be short-lived if its legal efforts succeed.
The announcement is still a major victory for young people who have been unable to apply since Trump ended DACA in September 2017. His administration has long argued DACA is unconstitutional.
After the US Supreme Court ruled in June that Trump violated federal law in how he ended the program, Chad Wolf, the acting Homeland Security Secretary, said the administration would study its options and, until then, wouldn’t accept new applications and would grant renewals for one year instead of two.
DACA shields about 650,000 people from deportation and makes them eligible for work permits.
Monday’s announcement came hours before a deadline set by District Judge Nicholas Garaufis in the Eastern District of New York for the administration to post public notice that it would accept applications under terms before Trump ended DACA. The judge ruled on Friday that Wolf was unlawfully serving in his position.
DACA began in 2012. It allows certain immigrants who were brought to the country illegally as children to work and be exempt from deportation, though it does not give them legal status.
