Texas and six other states (none of which are California) have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration seeking to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), the 2012 program created by the Obama administration to protect 700,000 young immigrants who entered the country from being deported.
Now in early June of 2018, the Justice Department responded to Texas’ request for an injunction in its challenge to DACA. The states (the others are Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Carolina and West Virginia) claim that the program was unlawful because the administration overstepped its authority. They now want to immediately cancel all DACA permits because they are unlawful and not issue any new ones. This would effectively kill the program, phasing it out within two years.
Justice Department will not defend DACA
The Justice Department announced June 9 that it will not defend DACA, calling it “an open-ended circumvention of immigration laws.” It did request a two-week delay if an injunction is issued because it would likely conflict with other injunctions at the national level as well as the state level here in California and New York. The fear is that it would put the Justice Department on inconsistent legal ground and go against Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ deep opposition to DACA and pursuit of stricter immigration policies and enforcement.
New laws may be enacted
According to the New York Times, there is potential for congress to get involved and create new laws, rather than the government trying to manage this political impasse. So far, three court rulings have ordered that DACA can continue. It is believed by some that new laws are preferable to executive orders, court rulings, agency memos that have made up the bulk of the current policy in DACA and recent immigration matters.
As always, those involved or have family members involved in immigration or seeking asylum would be well served by working with an attorney who follows the weekly and sometimes daily updates of immigration policy here in California and the United States.
