The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which protects undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children from being deported.
The decision – determined by a 5-4 vote – came as a relief for the Obama-era program’s 650,000+ recipients, who have been in limbo since President Donald J. Trump discontinued the program in September 2017.
The Supreme Court concluded that the president has the power to rescind DACA, but the administration failed to consider “conspicuous issues,” including “what if anything to do about the hardship to DACA recipients,” Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote, which “raises doubts about whether the agency appreciated the scope of its discretion or exercised that discretion in a reasonable manner.”
This means DACA recipients can continue to live and work in the country legally. It’s news that spurred celebration across the higher education sector, which is home to more than 450,000 undocumented students, 216,000 of whom are eligible for DACA, according to a report in April. Many university leaders came out with statements of support.
“The Supreme Court’s decision is a critical victory for DACA students as well as our country’s ideals and best interests,” wrote Peter McPherson, president of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. “At a time when our nation and the world are experiencing extraordinary challenges, today’s ruling provides a much-needed ray of light. For the past few years, DACA enrollees have lived in fear that their days with protected status are numbered.”
Dr. Gary Orfield, feeling “tremendously relieved,” praised what he called “guerrilla lawyer-ing” on the part of DACA advocates. Orfield is the co-director of the Civil Rights Project and a professor of education, law, political science and urban planning at the University of California Los Angeles.
DACA could have ended this week had the administration laid out a clear rationale and a detailed plan for its removal, Orfield said, but in its haste, the Trump administration “opened the doors for the defenders of the DACA program to win this case. The weakness and incompetence of the administration have been a gift to minority rights. They blew it so badly they lost in a conservative court.”
