Thread: Supreme Court to hear Trump administration plea to end DACA program for immigrants

Supreme Court to hear Trump administration plea to end DACA program for immigrants who came as children


Richard Wolf
,USA TODAY•June 28, 2019

Supreme Court to hear Trump administration plea to end DACA program for immigrants who came as children More

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court finally agreed Friday to referee a two-year-old dispute between President Trump and Democrats in Congress over the fate of nearly 700,000 undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children.

The high court showdown, which could be decided in the midst of the 2020 presidential election, will determine whether Trump has the power to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program known as DACA that President Barack Obama created in 2012.

Although the justices had refused the administration's request to intervene until now, their decision to hear the case next term signals a potential win for the White House. Three federal district courts and two appeals courts have blocked Trump from ending the program; only one district court has ruled in his favor.

The Justice Department has sought since the beginning of 2018 to make their case at the Supreme Court, which the president earlier this year said has "treated us very fairly" after other lower court defeats. Three times, the justices turned down the request.

The administration first announced its plan to wind down DACA in September 2017. The plan was challenged immediately in federal courts from New York to California and blocked nationwide by judges in both of those states. Federal appeals courts in California and Virginia have extended the losing streak.

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The Supreme Court issued an order regarding President Trump's effort to end the DACA program for undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children. More

One theory for the high court's previous reluctance to weigh in is its effort to avoid controversial issues for two reasons. Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh's contentious Senate confirmation last fall put the court's legitimacy in jeopardy, and the justices likely don't want to be an issue in the 2020 elections.

The DACA program, established in 2012 without congressional approval, has protected 670,000 undocumented immigrants from deportation and enabled them to get work permits.

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Trump originally proposed ending the program in 2017 but gave Congress six months to work out a compromise solution. That led to intense negotiations and a brief government shutdown but did not produce a law to save the so-called "Dreamers."

Since then, Trump has suggested that the Dreamers' fate could be linked to his own dream: a concrete wall or steel barrier along parts of the southern border.

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His backers have argued that since Obama created the program without Congress, Trump can end it the same way. But nearly all courts have said the administration's action was "arbitrary and capricious" and would harm both the participants and the state and local governments benefiting from their economic activity.

The Supreme Court has ruled against Obama and for Trump in other immigration cases. In 2016, it blocked a broader Obama initiative aimed at protecting millions of undocumented parents. Last year, it upheld Trump's ban against travelers from seven countries, including five with Muslim majorities.

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But on Thursday, Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court's four liberal justices in blocking the administration's effort to add a question on citizenship to the 2020 census. The court gave the Commerce Department another chance to justify its plan, but time to print census questionnaires is running out.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/supreme-c...133313552.html