About 50,000 DACA applicants were left hanging after a Texas federal judge ruled to end the program. Many are now fighting for permanent immigration protections.
Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/dreamers-verge-getting-daca-are-left-hanging-latest-court-ruling-rcna1497
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Nicole Acevedo
Federal judge decision puts thousands of lives on hold as many people can’t work or access student loans or scholarships
For Kimberly, an undocumented 20-year-old in Missouri, last week’s decision by a Texas judge to not allow immigrants to file new applications for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca), a program that shielded them against deportation and provided work permits and other benefits, could have immediate impacts.
Kimberly, who came to the US when she was five, was in the process of applying for Daca. The Guardian is not using her full name. For her, like many others, Daca has been a rollercoaster ride of ups and downs – and one that keeps putting their lives on hold.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/23/dreamers-ruling-blocks-new-daca-applications
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Sarah Betancourt
The Biden administration and Democrats on Capitol Hill have vowed repeatedly to secure a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants. But a federal judge in Texas could be the one to force them to take the first step in making it happen.
Advocates, attorneys and lawmakers expect a ruling within days — or weeks — on a court case that will determine the fate of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which provides protections for more than 640,000 immigrants brought to the country illegally as children.
Many anticipate that DACA will be ruled unlawful, given the Trump administration’s handling of the case and the judge’s track record on immigration. It would be the latest blow to the program, which has been caught in legal limbo since former President Barack Obama introduced it in 2012.
Still, despite its legal challenges, DACA remains popular, with widespread support among both Republicans and Democrats, who believe so-called Dreamers should be shielded from deportation and given legal status. But if DACA is overturned, recipients will be stripped of their protection from deportation and work permits. And that could pressure Congress to offer permanent legal status for Dreamers — and potentially other undocumented immigrants.
“The times where Congress [has been] most energized to move was when they felt they were in the middle of a crisis moment,” said Alida Garcia, vice president for advocacy at FWD.us, an immigration advocacy group.
But Garcia said she is “scared” because “we’ve gone through so many crisis moments on DACA that people have a bit of fatigue.” Congress doesn’t seem to get that — right now, the program is facing its greatest risk, she said.
“They need to move quickly,” she said.
Texas and eight other states are asking the court to end DACA. They argue the program is unconstitutional and forces states to bear extra costs from providing DACA recipients with services like education. Meanwhile, DACA proponents argue Obama acted within his executive powers to create the program and point to research documenting the program’s benefits for both young immigrants and the country. The Center for American Progress, for example, estimates that ending DACA would mean a loss of billions of dollars in GDP for the states suing to overturn it.
A hearing took place in late December, but U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen did not issue an immediate ruling.
Several advocates say they expect Hanen to rule against DACA because in 2015 he ruled against expanded DACA protections and another Obama-era program — Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents, which would have given protections to as many as five million undocumented immigrants.
However, in 2018, Hanen declined to issue a preliminary injunction to temporarily stop DACA, but said the program as enacted by Obama was unconstitutional and that it was up to Congress to pass immigration reform.
If Hanen rules against DACA, however, it’s unlikely he will shut down the program immediately — or even imminently. Hanen, a George W. Bush appointee, made clear in the December hearing that he was wary of a quick end to the program. And while an end to the program could make immigration reform more of a legislative priority, a drawn-out process could impact any sense of urgency on Capitol Hill.
The program has already faced several ups and downs. In 2017, former President Donald Trump tried to end the program. But in June 2020, the Supreme Court ruled against the Trump administration. It found the way the government rescinded the program was unlawful — but left the door open for other legal challenges. DACA applications resumed last December.
That’s why immigrant advocates say Congress must pass legislation now that it has a Democratic majority and a White House sending the right signals.
A ruling on the Texas case could be “a forcing event or action that makes things move at a greater speed,” said Lorella Praeli, president of Community Change Action, a progressive grassroots group. “It changes the politics, creates that sense of urgency.”
However, Praeli said Congress shouldn’t wait for a ruling — or “crisis moment” — to take action since the program has never been fully safe.
On his first day in office, President Joe Biden released a comprehensive immigration reform bill with a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants. It has been welcomed by many Democrats, but Republicans quickly shut it down — a reminder that it’ll be challenging to pass in a 50-50 Senate. Biden also signed an executive order on day one to safeguard DACA.
But another DACA case heading to the Supreme Court would likely not play out as it did before given the high court’s current makeup. The makeup of the Supreme Court has changed, and with a 6-3 conservative court, it feels like an uphill climb, Garcia said.
“We do not have the certainty that the DACA program and the recipients within it will be protected much longer,” Garcia said. “That’s why we’re pushing urgently for Congress to act.”
Last week, Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) reintroduced the Dream Act, which would provide a pathway to citizenship for an estimated 2 million undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, known as Dreamers. The bill has been around for 20 years without being signed into law.
“Passing the Dream Act is still my highest legislative priority,” a visibly emotional Durbin said in a 16-minute speech last week. He added: The Texas DACA case “is a reminder that a law has to pass.”
Meanwhile, Graham said he doubts the Dream Act would pass as a standalone bill, but rather part of a bigger immigration package. In the past, talk of a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers has been used by immigration hardliners to seek out stronger immigration enforcement and more border security.
But the Dream Act “will be a starting point for us to find bipartisan breakthroughs providing relief to the Dreamers and also repairing a broken immigration system,” Graham said in a statement last week.
Immigrant advocates say they want to see Dreamers, TPS recipients and undocumented farmworkers get legal status at the same time. Advocates are eyeing a pair of bills passed by House Democrats in 2019 — the American Dream and Promise Act and the Farm Workforce Modernization Act. They want to see them passed by mid-March, an ambitious goal as the Senate faces Trump’s impeachment again and still needs to pass a Covid relief bill, Biden’s top priority.
Meanwhile, some civil rights groups and advocates, such as Thomas Saenz, president and general counsel of Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, are hoping Congress will move without a push from the courts. Saenz, whose organization has defended DACA recipients, said he wants to see Hanen permit further discovery and briefing in the case, since the U.S. government’s position in the case has changed now that Biden is in office.
“The Trump administration’s position was that DACA was unlawful, but now the real defendant is in a position to defend — and that’s different,” Saenz said.
But if that doesn’t happen, Saenz is cautiously optimistic Congress can pass immigration reform. However, like other advocates, he recognizes the major challenge of doing so in a 50-50 Senate with the filibuster still in place.
“It has always been true that relief for this particular group of immigrants has strong voter support,” Saenz said. Therefore, he said, it should be relatively easy to get bipartisan support in the Senate to get relief for this population. Data and polls show broad support for offering legal status to immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children, he said.
“But it’s certainly true that many leaders of the Republican Party have aligned themselves quite clearly with Donald Trump,” Saenz said. “So, that’s the question: Can Republican senators who have aligned themselves with Trump still find a way to support legislation?”
Source: https://www.politico.com/news/2021/02/10/texas-daca-congress-biden-immigration-468199
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Sabrina Rodriguez
The judge ordered DHS to post a public notice by Monday prominently on its website to accept first-time applications.
Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/federal-judge-reinstates-daca-orders-trump-quickly-accept-new-applicants-n1250081
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Dartunorro Clark
A federal judge ruled on Saturday that acting Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Chad Wolf was unlawfully appointed, thus invalidating his suspension of the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals (DACA) …
Source: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/526014-federal-judge-rules-acting-dhs-secretary-unlawfully-appointed
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Jordan Williams
President Trump is expected to refile paperwork this week to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that offers protections for thousands of young immigrants, according to multiple people famili…
Source: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/506018-trump-expected-to-refile-paperwork-to-end-daca-this-week
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Brett Samuels
A majority of Trump voters want to protect so-called Dreamers from deportation, according to a new poll, putting pressure on President Donald Trump to shield immigrants who were brought to the country illegally as children.
The same trend holds across all Republicans, according to the findings from the latest POLITICO/Morning Consult poll. In fact, the poll indicates that wide swaths of registered voters support Dreamers regardless of gender, education, income, ethnicity, religion and ideology. That includes 68 percent of Republicans, 71 percent of conservatives and 64 percent of those who approve of the job Trump is doing. Even 69 percent of those who voted for Trump in 2016 — when he vowed to deport Dreamers — say they should be protected.
The findings highlight a looming political challenge for Trump as he runs for a second term, partly to make good on his promises to immigration hard-liners while looking to appeal to Hispanics and slicing into the advantage Democrats have with them.
Any day now, the Supreme Court is expected to allow Trump to shutter the Obama-era program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, forcing the president to make a decision on Dreamers less than five months before voters head to the polls.
Overall, more than three out of four registered voters say Dreamers should be allowed to stay in the United States. That includes 61 percent who say they should be allowed to become citizens if they meet requirements, and 17 percent who say they should be allowed to become legal residents if they meet requirements. Just 12 percent say they should be deported. Ten percent didn’t know or had no opinion.
“As Congress awaits the looming Supreme Court decision on DACA, nearly two-thirds of voters — driven by Democrats and independents — believe Dreamers should be allowed to stay in the U.S. and given a pathway to citizenship,” said Kyle Dropp, co-founder and chief research officer at Morning Consult.
Trump is considering slowly winding down the program and using the looming end point as leverage to try to strike an elusive immigration deal with Democrats. Already, Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, has floated including DACA as part of a broader immigration package after the Supreme Court ruling, two people familiar with the conversations previously told POLITICO.
Trump has previously offered legislative proposals that would give Dreamers permanent legal protections in exchange for some of his hard-line immigration priorities, including cuts to legal immigration and border wall funding. But the offers failed in part because the president himself backed away after facing opposition from immigration hawks who accused him of going against his own campaign promise.
Roy Beck, president of NumbersUSA, which supports immigration restrictions, said his group supports proposals that offer legal status to Dreamers as long as they come with workforce enforcement measures, including E-Verify, an electronic system that allows businesses to check the work authorization of their employees. “We’ve acknowledged that most of the Dreamers have a compelling case,” he said.
Registered voters are split on whether they trust Trump or Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, to handle the issue of immigration, according to the new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll. Forty-three percent say they would trust Biden, compared with 41 for Trump. Fifteen percent don’t know or had no opinion.
Biden, who was vice president when DACA was created, has vowed to reinstate the program and allow Dreamers to receive federal student aid, calling Trump’s decision to end the program “cruel and counterproductive.”
“Immigrant youth are not a negotiating chip,” he wrote in a statement this week to mark the eight-year anniversary of the program. “They are not disposable.They are an integral part of the American fabric. Their story is our story, and their struggles are our struggles. Donald Trump and the Republicans in Congress should stop threatening their lives for political gain.”
Biden, who has faced criticism for the number of immigrants deported during the Obama administration, has vowed to reinstate DACA within his first 100 days as president and work with Congress to create a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million immigrants in the United States illegally.
The poll indicates that the issue of immigration falls largely along partisan lines, though Trump garners more support from Republicans than Biden does with Democrats. Eighty percent of Democrats say Biden would handle immigration best, while 85 percent of Republicans say Trump would. Moderates favored Biden over Trump, 48 percent to 32 percent.
Trump made cracking down on immigration the centerpiece of his 2016 campaign, promising to build a wall on the southern border with Mexico, deport millions of migrants who arrived in the country illegally and end DACA, which provides renewable work permits to Dreamers.
But Trump’s rhetoric on immigration and DACA has wavered as president. When he moved to end DACA, Trump spoke of his “great heart” and “great love” for Dreamers. He then offered a six-month wind-down period designed to give Congress time to pass legislation to make the program permanent.
His stance appeared to change again, however. Just last November, he lashed out at Dreamers on Twitter, saying that “they are far from angels.”
“The president is, months before an election, doing absolutely everything within his power to see DACA ended and DACA recipients subjected to immediate deportation, an issue where only one in eight Americans support his position,” said Todd Schulte, president of FWD.us, a group working to protect Dreamers.
Business executives, donors and Republican leaders have long urged Trump to show compassion for Dreamers. Since 2018, the number of those who say Dreamers should be allowed to become citizens if they meet certain requirements has increased slightly, to 61 percent from 58 percent.
But it will be nearly impossible for a divided Congress to tackle immigration in an election year, given the historic intractability on the issue and the current focus on responding to the coronavirus pandemic and police brutality. Democrats are also suspicious of any immigration deals with Trump and want to wait to see whether their party wins back the White House and Senate in November.
After Democrats took control of the House in 2019, the lower chamber did pass a bill, largely along party lines, to provide legal status and eventual citizenship to 2.3 million Dreamers, including DACA recipients. The Senate, which needs 60 votes to pass legislation, has ignored it.
Morning Consult is a global data intelligence company, delivering insights on what people think in real time by surveying tens of thousands across the globe every single day.
More details on the poll and its methodology can be found in these two documents: Toplines | Crosstabs
Source: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/17/trump-supporters-dreamers-poll-323432
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Anita Kumar
In what is already one of the most turbulent years in Washington, Congress could soon be staring down another crisis — the possible deportation of 700,000 Dreamers.
The Supreme Court is expected to rule in the coming weeks on the fate of an Obama-era program to shield undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, delivering a jolt to Washington amid a global pandemic and historic unrest over the killing of African Americans at the hands of police.
A Supreme Court decision necessitating Congress to act would add another monstrous task to its to-do list this year, while also thrusting lawmakers into one of the thorniest political debates just months before they, and President Donald Trump, are on the ballot.
Many lawmakers from both parties say they support the popular “Dreamers” program, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which has been in legal limbo since Trump’s attempt to ax it in 2017. But they are also openly skeptical that Congress could, on top of everything, finally clinch a deal on immigration reform.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who has long advocated immigration reform, predicted Congress would do nothing if the high court struck down the program. That would make hundreds of thousands of people in the DACA program subject to deportation if the White House and Trump don’t step in.
“Not with this McConnell Senate. It’s unlikely that we will do anything to help these young people,” Durbin said, referring to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has said any DACA fix should be accompanied by broader reforms.
It could hardly be a busier election year for Democrats and Republicans, and there’s no sign of it letting up. In the coming weeks, Congress’ agenda includes a potential police reform bill and negotiations over the next — and potentially final — major coronavirus relief package. That’s on top of funding the government and approving a must-pass defense spending measure.
“We’ve had a lot of stuff thrown into our lap since I’ve been here,” said Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.), who has supported border wall money but said he needs to study DACA more. “I think there was a thing called impeachment and then the coronavirus and then police reform so, I guess we can handle this as well but I think it would really be a big issue thrown among many others.”
The Supreme Court could leave Congress with a wide range of options. It could overturn the protections for “Dreamers” immediately, phase it out over time, or perhaps require additional regulatory steps from the Trump administration.
If the court sends the issue back to Congress to fix with a deadline, many lawmakers say it could actually force party leaders to come to the table.
“We’re hoping for the best, but with the court, they can obviously come down either way. We’re prepared whatever the decision is,” Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus said in an interview, pointing to the Democrats’ existing legislation.
But, he added, the politics won’t be pretty: “The White House tries to use everything as leverage, tries to exploit any situation. We expect that.”
“I have learned in my time in Congress, Congress always does best when there’s a deadline,” added retiring Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas), a centrist House Republican who has spent years fighting for a DACA fix.
The pressure for swift action, Hurd argued, would be immense if the court does knock out DACA. Recent polling by CBS showed that 85 percent of people support allowing immigrants brought to the U.S. as children to stay, including 73 percent of Republicans.
“If the Supreme Court decides that DACA is unconstitutional, what happens to those 700,000 young men and women? What happens to them, and how much time does Congress have to try to create a permanent legislative fix?” said Hurd, whose majority Hispanic district borders Mexico.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) conceded in an interview that broader immigration reform is a reach, particularly in an election year. But Graham, who has long supported overhauling the country’s immigration laws, said Congress can still act on issues like border security and visas in the near term, and emphasized that DACA recipients need certainty.
“I don’t think you’re going to get comprehensive immigration reform, but I think there’s a ‘mini-deal’ to be had and people are looking for outcomes,” Graham said, who has not recently spoken to the White House about the issue. “I’m hoping we sit down with the president and find a mini-package … I’m willing to try, but it’s going to take everybody else willing to try and time will tell.”
House Democrats say there’s a simple solution — for the Senate to take up their bill from last June to permanently extend the program. That bill, approved largely along party lines, was the most significant immigration bill to pass either chamber in six years, though it has since languished in the upper chamber.
Senate Republicans have said they’re willing to consider a legislative fix, but many in the caucus are also calling for a serious effort to crack down on unauthorized immigration more broadly. And they want to see reforms to visas for foreign workers.
“I do believe it would be important for us to resolve the DACA issue for those young people that are facing continued uncertainty,” said Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who belongs to the Senate GOP’s moderate wing. “I also believe that we need to decide how we’re going to deal with the 11 million or so that are here illegally and I hope that we improve our legal system of immigration.”
But Romney added: “Whether we’re going to pass something in an election year on that topic is I think an unlikely scenario.”
The task of reaching consensus is made more difficult by Senate Republicans’ insistence that Trump give his blessing before any bill goes forward. The Trump presidency has had several flirtations with Congress on immigration policy — including two government shutdowns related to the subject — but so far nothing has come to fruition.
And Democrats are still stinging over Trump’s rejection of bipartisan legislation in 2018 that would have provided $25 billion for border security in exchange for protecting DACA recipients and their parents. Last year, Jared Kushner, a senior adviser to the president and his son-in-law, tried and failed to find a bipartisan deal on asylum laws with Durbin and Graham.
During a March meeting, Trump told a group of GOP senators at the White House he wanted to wait until after the Supreme Court ruled on DACA before pursuing additional immigration reform.
Since then, Trump has publicly and privately suggested that if the court does rule in his favor, he plans to dangle the fate of the DACA program in front of Democrats in hopes of striking a broader immigration deal this summer.
“I hope that Lindsey, who actually worked with Dick Durbin to come up with a bipartisan bill, … would be able to marshal the commitment to support the DACA participants,” said Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii). “However you never know with the Republicans.”
House Democrats say they’re already bracing for a scenario in which they’ll be forced to bargain with Trump.
“I’m hoping the Supreme Court does the right thing, but if not, then we have to work with the Trump administration,” said Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), whose southern Texas district borders Mexico.
But Cuellar also acknowledged that Congress already has a lot on its plate, rattling off spending bills, coronavirus relief, a defense policy bill and a surface transportation bill.
“The calendar is so full,” Cuellar said, adding that the House’s new voting procedures to protect members’ health in the ongoing pandemic has dramatically slowed down the process of voting. “It just takes a long time to get things done.”
Melanie Zanona contributed to this report.
Source: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/14/daca-congress-supreme-court-315465
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Marianne LeVine and Sarah Ferris
