The Supreme Court ruled against the Trump Administration’s request to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program implemented by President Obama via executive order. The non-congressionally authorized administrative program created avenues to citizenship status for children if they had come to the United States with their parents before the age of 16, also known as DREAMers. In the conclusion of a highly-watched court battle over the controversial immigration program, the high court ruled in favor of keeping DACA in place by a vote of 5-4. Chief Justice John Roberts, a swing vote on the bench, sided with the liberal wing of the court:
#SCOTUS rules against Trump administration in challenge to decision to end #DACA program, which allowed noncitizens brought to this country illegally as children to apply for protection from deportation, holding decision was arbitrary and capricious
— SCOTUSblog (@SCOTUSblog) June 18, 2020
#SCOTUS rules against Trump administration in challenge to decision to end #DACA program, which allowed noncitizens brought to this country illegally as children to apply for protection from deportation, holding decision was arbitrary and capricious
— SCOTUSblog (@SCOTUSblog) June 18, 2020
Breaking: Supreme Court blocks Trump’s decision to end DACA protection for dreamers, ruling the move “arbitrary and capricious". Decision was 5-4 with Chief Justice Roberts joining the court’s liberals.
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) June 18, 2020
AP: Supreme Court rejects Trump bid to end legal protections for young immigrants
— Jesse Rodriguez (@JesseRodriguez) June 18, 2020
The Trump Administration sought to end the program and argued that it is unconstitutional; President Trump’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) elected to rescind the program in 2017, which led to challenges from several groups, arguing that the rescission violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).
In the court’s majority opinion, Chief Justice Roberts agreed that the rescission was a violation:
“...DHS’s decision to rescind DACA was arbitrary and capricious under the APA,” he wrote.
The court’s ruling does not necessarily protect DACA in the long-term, but rejects the way that the Trump Administration rescinded the Obama-era program.
