Window of Opportunity for DREAMers Still Is Open For Now
By Rocio Velazquez Kato, Esq., Latino Policy Forum Immigration Policy Analyst
The window of opportunity for DREAMers to file renewals for their Deferred Action Childhood Arrivals (DACA) protections was left open after the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review a key case out of California, handing the Trump administration a major setback in its efforts to rescind the Obama-era program.
The White House tried to bypass the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals by asking the Supreme Court to review the northern California District Court’s preliminary injunction ordering that the administration reinstate the DACA program while the case is pending. SCOTUS responded that the 9th Circuit would probably decide it expeditiously. The Supreme Court’s decision did NOT rule on the case’s merits and the administration plans on appealing the District Court decision to the 9th Circuit.
What is most significant about this denial of Certiorari is the fact that the White House’s response was not that DACA was created unconstitutionally, but that the program itself is unlawful as it “provides work permits and myriad government benefits to illegal immigrants en mass.” The narrative surrounding DREAMers has been slipping disturbingly into grouping them under a negative perception of “illegal immigrants.”