Photo: History in HD
It seems it’s been a push-and-pull battle for the dreamers as of late. And while some believe Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) may be out of the woods, trouble may still be looming on the horizon. Last week, the president declared that he would in fact be refiling the paperwork to rescind the Obama-era program, which offers protections for thousands of young immigrants from deportation but was swiftly denied said action by the Supreme Court just days later. Instead, the Supreme Court ordered the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to fully reinstate DACA.
As of late last week, the agency is obligated to continue processing renewal applications for not only current DACA holders but must also reopen the application process for the 300,000 new applicants who are eligible under the terms of the program. Moreover, the protection also shields the 55,500 of the youngest DACA-eligible individuals who have aged into eligibility and will finally have the opportunity to apply for the first time, American Progress reports.
Though most rejoiced at the hopeful news late last week, the Trump administration fired back ardently with an announcement released on Monday, declaring they are “privately considering a controversial strategy to act without legal authority to enact federal policies – starting with immigration,” according to axious.com.
Trump also stated that he is about to unveil a “very major” immigration policy via executive order, which he claims the Supreme Court gave him the power to do.
Lawyer John Yoo, writer of the Bush administration’s justification for water boarding after 911 states, “…that the ruling, and actions by Obama pave the way for Trump to implement policies that Congress won’t.” Some of these policies could even remain in force for years, even if President Trump loses re-election.
It would be remiss to say this all doesn’t sound extremely cryptic. Yet, through the cloud of uncertainty, many speculate that the above could mean the following:
- “The order could include some protections for immigrants who traveled to the U.S. illegally as children, something most Americans support.
- That could be a political olive branch to Latino voters, though the Trump administration moved to end the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which led to the Supreme Court's involvement.
- The order could also include significant new restrictions on immigration that couldn't get through Congress but are favored by the president, Jared Kushner and hardline adviser Stephen Miller.”
And in an interview this past Sunday, Trump hinted to Fox’s Chris Wallace that he was plotting to replace DACA with “something much better.”
Despite these plausible hypotheticals, the final verdict remains hidden in the dark, and we the partisans, anxiously awaiting.
Sources:
https://www.axios.com/trump-executive-orders-supreme-court-daca-3d369f16-d9db-4e39-b8a0-946e670797b2.html
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/immigration/news/2020/07/13/487514/trump-administration-must-immediately-resume-processing-new-daca-applications/
