President Trump lost more than just the House of Representatives in last week’s midterms.
Just as the hot anti-immigrant rhetoric failed to woo voters, it also failed to convince the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) should be ended.
The appeals court rejected the Trump administration’s claim that DACA was illegal. Two of the three-judge panel ruling believed the administration was likely in violation of administrative law. A third judge, indicated there may be a violation of the Constitution’s equal protection clause.
The ruling has emboldened the University of California, which took the lead in higher ed to defend DACA in court, and now it’s encouraging all recipients to renew their DACA grants immediately.
“The court’s decision ensures that the 800,000 beneficiaries of DACA will be able to retain or renew their grants and continue to legally work, study, serve in the military, and live in the United States,” a statement from UC’s Office of the President read.
The University of California was joined in the suit defending DACA by California itself and three other states, the City of San Jose and a group of DACA recipients known as Dreamers.
“[The] decision is yet another strong message from our nation’s courts that the government’s attempt to rescind DACA was unlawful,” the UC statement continued. “The government’s only justification for rescinding DACA — that the program itself is legally flawed — is unfounded. Now that the appellate court has definitively rejected this argument, the university calls on the administration to stop its efforts to rescind the program.”
