WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal court today ordered the Trump administration to begin accepting new Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) applications after the administration failed to do so following last month’s Supreme Court ruling allowing the program to continue.
The administration has so far refused to accept new applications despite the Supreme Court holding that President Trump’s 2017 rescission of DACA was invalid because it lacked an adequate justification.
“The Supreme Court was clear that it was restoring DACA to its pre-September 2017 state. This means that the administration not only must continue protections for current recipients, but that that it must also accept new applications,” said Ali Noorani, President and CEO of the National Immigration Forum. “Ignoring this decision puts the administration directly at odds with the rule of law, and leaves Dreamers steeped in even more uncertainty about their futures.
“DACA applicants, as well as current recipients, are doing everything they can to contribute to our communities and our economy, and the Court’s ruling allows them to apply for DACA so they can continue to do so without fear of deportation.
“As this tug-of-war continues to play out in the White House and the courts, Congress should act now to reinforce and secure protections for Dreamers in the immediate future by passing legislation to automatically extend the work authorizations of DACA recipients. And it remains clearer than ever that the only way to ensure Dreamers — and the American employers, workers and communities who depend on them — can fully embrace the lives they have built here is through a permanent legislative solution that is bipartisan.”