Thread: Trump Likely Has Authority To Extend DACA Deadline, Experts Say

Trump Likely Has Authority To Extend DACA Deadline, Experts Say

February 8,2018

John T. Bennett


Legal experts dispute a claim from some senior Trump administration officials that President Donald Trump lacks the legal authority to extend his own deadline for ending an immigration program that protects nearly 700,00 people from deportation.
Senior White House and Cabinet officials in recent days have sent mixed messages about whether Trump could merely amend a September executive order that gave Congress until March 5 to legalize the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.


There is no consistency in the administration’s stance, with lawmakers and experts saying the various messages only further cloud an already murky legal question.
In one camp are Trump and officials like Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders signaling the president could merely change that deadline if lawmakers and White House negotiators need more time to strike an immigration deal. Some legal experts argue he could do so through a new executive order.


But in another are immigration hardliners like White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. They have stated the president lacks the legal authority to alter his own deadline, a stance echoed in conversations with other White House aides.




But some legal experts say the office of the presidency possesses the authority to change a program termination deadline set via an executive order. After all, a president would not be altering an existing law.


“The original deadline was arbitrary and he could set another arbitrary deadline,” said Andrew Rudalevige, a professor at Maine’s Bowdoin College who specializes in studying the presidency.


Watch: Ryan: I Don’t Want to Risk a Veto On Immigration Bill That Trump Doesn’t Support (at link)




“While you could argue the DACA program should have ended immediately — as unlawful — once you set a transition deadline in the first place, there’s no real bar to saying that ‘administrative convenience’ or some such mandates an extension of that deadline,” Rudalevige added.



Another legal source was asked whether the Trump-Sanders camp is on firmer legal ground. She replied: “That’s probably true,” adding a second executive order amending the first one on DACA likely would be sufficient.



Theresa Cardinal Brown, a former senior Department of Homeland Security immigration official in the George W. Bush administration, sees no clear legal hurdle that would prevent any president from amending a program-ending order with a new order.



But she cautions that unanswered legal questions about the DACA program and how Trump chose to go about ending it create a sizeable grey area on extending the deadline.



“It depends on whether or not you think the original program was unconstitutional. And that has not been decided by the courts,” said Brown, now with the Bipartisan Policy Center. “The September order gave a six-month wind-down to give people a period of time to adjust. Now, whether or not he had the authority to extend it that long has never been tested in court.


“So we don’t really know if an extension would be accepted by the legal system,” she said. Further muddying the waters: It is unclear whether a second order would be challenged in court; but issuing a new one could force Justice Department attorneys to alter their arguments about the legality of the September missive, creating “some bit of legal jeopardy in issuing another order.”


Mixed Messages

Just what Trump and his top aides will decide to do if Congress is unable to come up with an immigration deal that addresses DACA is anyone’s guess.


When the president popped in on a meeting Kelly was having with reporters about a White House immigration plan on the evening of Jan. 24, he signaled he was considering extending the deadline if immigration talks need more time. But he was clear about his stance on whether he has the authority to do so.


“I certainly have the right to that, if I want,” he said.


But that came eight days after Nielsen told the Senate Judiciary Committee just the opposite. Senate Democratic Whip Richard J. Durbin of Illinois asked her if she has concluded Trump lacks the legal power to change the deadline. “Yes,” she replied.
Nielsen’s department, however, struggled to clarify the disconnect between the two camps’ opposite stances.


Acting DHS Press Secretary Tyler Houlton sent Roll Call a lengthy statement when asked to spell out the legal underpinning of Nielsen’s stance. “Given the attorney general’s determination that the previous DACA policy was likely unlawful and unconstitutional, the administration is fully committed to that deadline,” Houlton said.



The statement did not directly address the legal basis, other than to stress the president determined DACA unconstitutional. He also claimed Nielsen had never said Trump lacks the authority to set a new deadline, and then did not respond to a follow-up email when a reporter shared the Durbin exchange from a transcript of the Jan. 16 hearing.


Kelly went to Capitol Hill on Tuesday and reiterated his assessment that he is “not so sure this president has the authority to extend it,” according to the Washington Post. He reportedly noted Obama created the program via executive order, meaning it is not an actual law.


The chief of staff’s assessment, however, is flawed: Presidents lack the authority to just change laws passed by Congress. They can adjust implementation — but not unilaterally order programs etched in law be terminated.


Hours later on Tuesday, Sanders took another stance when asked about a presidential extension: “He certainly has the right to do so.”


On Wednesday, White House aides were unable to provide a clear answer on whether the president has the requisite legal authorities. They also struggled to say definitely if White House officials asked the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel or a similar legal shop within the government to weigh in. (The Justice Department’s public affairs office did not return requests for comment on the matter.)


The best one White House official could do was try to clarify Kelly’s Tuesday remark, but even that clarification appeared at odds with the retired Marine’s stance: “I think what Gen. Kelly was referring to was the president’s determination that the DACA program was not legal.”



https://www.rollcall.com/news/politi...ne-experts-say

TRUMP ALREADY GAVE AN EXTENSION...HE PROMISED TO END DACA ON DAY ONE!

IT IS NOW OVER A YEAR LATER!!!

THE ONLY SOLUTION IS LET WORK PERMITS EXPIRE AND DEPORT THEM!

END DACA NOW...NO MORE EXTENSIONS, NO RENEWAL, NO NEW APPLICATIONS



THESE COUNTRIES CANNOT DUMP THEIR PEOPLE ON US ANY MORE!

Trump did not have the legal authority to continue DACA to March 5, 2018 much less extend it behond that. DACA is an illegal program that grossly violates the US Constitution while making a mockery of our Congress, elections, and the Rule of Law.

"A federal judge in California ordered the Department of Homeland Security to resume DACA, the program at the core of the ongoing battle."


"The department is now operating DACA, waiting for the Supreme Court to issue the final verdict on its legality. That means the program may survive until sometime this summer, the earliest the court could rule, even without Congressional action."

@ https://www.alipac.us/f12/congress-h...eamers-355399/

This back and forth with Trump is going to sour his base.

Donald "Bill of Love" Trump has to know that he's cutting his own throat.

Originally Posted by Boomslang

This back and forth with Trump is going to sour his base.

Donald "Bill of Love" Trump has to know that he's cutting his own throat.

I believe you're correct.

Originally Posted by Boomslang

This back and forth with Trump is going to sour his base.

Donald "Bill of Love" Trump has to know that he's cutting his own throat.

I agree, but we also need to put the blame where it belongs and that's with who is pushing this crap, it's not Trump, he's just responding to the advocacy, it's the church people. There's a reason 501 C 3 orgies are supposed to be silent on public policy and legislation or forfeit their tax status. If they want to be lobbyists, then they need to reorganize and be 501 C 4s, like ALUPAC, not 501 C 3's like churches.

Originally Posted by Judy

It's okay, Boomslang. You're free to feel however you want. Just don't put any money in the plate on Sunday, you'll get a much better outcome that hating on Trump as if this is something personal. Trump knows he can't make much progress with the lack of control in the US Senate. All he can do is whatever can be done with existing laws or changes in regulations and of course budget reconciliation. Trump can't win anything from Congress on immigration with budget reconciliation because of our Republican Traitors like McCain and Flake. So the options are do a deal or do nothing. I vote for do nothing and spend all our energy trying to elect 10 more Republican Senators to the US Senate.

But I tire of this. The hate on Trump has been going on since last February. It's truly the most peculiar thing I've ever seen, but it is what it is. I've been silenced by the organization, so need to cut it all off for now. I just think people need to face the truth about their religious organizations and cut off their money until they start putting American First.

No DACA! NO DACA DEAL! NO AMNESTY!! NO TITHES FUNDING THE DEVIL'S WORK OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION. You give to a church that supports and lobbies for DACA, then you are financing illegal immigration.

I don't think most people are hating on Trump. I think it's anger from being tricked into voting for him.

I believe this song is exactly what most Americans are thinking and feeling.

What have we done? By Veer Union

Key lyric:
We vote for someone trust and
in the end we pay the price for them

That's a novel idea, but I have a lot more confidence in the American Voter than to believe any of US were "tricked" into voting for Trump. Trump was in the 48% to 49% approval ratings all week at Rasmussen, up 5 to 7 points. The risk of making this DACA issue all about Trump is shooting yourself in the foot. It makes sense to thunder against his DACA deal and I support fighting that all the way, but when it gets personal, it loses credibility and professionalism, in my view. This is politics, very serious business, it's not about a friend or personal relationship with the White House. It's about what you want to do for the country as well as what you can do for the country. To try and persecute and belittle and attack the first President in my adult life who has ever even tried to do something to fix this horrible immigration disaster really makes no sense to me. It's completely illogical.

Sure you could have voted for Hillary, most Americans did. You could have voted for Jeb or Rand or Lindsey or Ted or Bobby or Mike or 10 or 11 others too and be listening to "Madame President" every day. If you voted for Trump, you made the right decision, so it's impossible for me to grasp what people are talking about when they say they were betrayed or tricked or let down in some way. You haven't been betrayed or let down in any way, shape or form by this President and you certainly weren't tricked into voting for him. Despite all the hateful talk, he plows on trying to fix this mess which he didn't start, it was started by all the other choices you could have voted for, but one which he will end.

Like I said earlier, if you really want to stop DACA, you have to pull the money behind it, and that starts at church on Sunday. You pull the money away from the religious traitors, and you'll never heard the word "DACA" again. There is no group in the country more devoted to their money than all the religious organizations who are using their donations to do the Devil's Work in lobbying for DACA and all illegal immigration. It's where they're getting their new members. Americans have gotten pretty fed up with their crap and are dropping out and off, so they want DACA and Amnesty because that's where their new memberships are coming from.

This is not new, I wrote a long paper for ALIPAC 13 years ago titled "The Truth Behind Illegal Immigration" and showed everyone then the role of the Catholic Church and others involved in illegal immigration. Until recently, the Southern Baptists had stayed away from it and demanded the government enforce our laws, but I see they've folded and have jumped on the bandwagon with all the others. Do these pastors represent their membership? I seriously doubt it, but that doesn't matter, they show up in Congress and the White House as spokesmen for their "flocks", such a demeaning term, like a herd of stupid geese.

Originally Posted by Judy

That's a novel idea, but I have a lot more confidence in the American Voter than to believe any of US were "tricked" into voting for Trump. Trump was in the 48% to 49% approval ratings all week at Rasmussen, up 5 to 7 points. The risk of making this DACA issue all about Trump is shooting yourself in the foot. It makes sense to thunder against his DACA deal and I support fighting that all the way, but when it gets personal, it loses credibility and professionalism, in my view. This is politics, very serious business, it's not about a friend or personal relationship with the White House. It's about what you want to do for the country as well as what you can do for the country. To try and persecute and belittle and attack the first President in my adult life who has ever even tried to do something to fix this horrible immigration disaster really makes no sense to me. It's completely illogical.

Sure you could have voted for Hillary, most Americans did. You could have voted for Jeb or Rand or Lindsey or Ted or Bobby or Mike or 10 or 11 others too and be listening to "Madame President" every day. If you voted for Trump, you made the right decision, so it's impossible for me to grasp what people are talking about when they say they were betrayed or tricked or let down in some way. You haven't been betrayed or let down in any way, shape or form by this President and you certainly weren't tricked into voting for him. Despite all the hateful talk, he plows on trying to fix this mess which he didn't start, it was started by all the other choices you could have voted for, but one which he will end.

Like I said earlier, if you really want to stop DACA, you have to pull the money behind it, and that starts at church on Sunday. You pull the money away from the religious traitors, and you'll never heard the word "DACA" again. There is no group in the country more devoted to their money than all the religious organizations who are using their donations to do the Devil's Work in lobbying for DACA and all illegal immigration. It's where they're getting their new members. Americans have gotten pretty fed up with their crap and are dropping out and off, so they want DACA and Amnesty because that's where their new memberships are coming from.

This is not new, I wrote a long paper for ALIPAC 13 years ago titled "The Truth Behind Illegal Immigration" and showed everyone then the role of the Catholic Church and others involved in illegal immigration. Until recently, the Southern Baptists had stayed away from it and demanded the government enforce our laws, but I see they've folded and have jumped on the bandwagon with all the others. Do these pastors represent their membership? I seriously doubt it, but that doesn't matter, they show up in Congress and the White House as spokesmen for their "flocks", such a demeaning term, like a herd of stupid geese.

Forgive me Judy. I would never speak a malevolent word towards you.
The well being of my country is very personal to me. I don't think there has ever been a president that I thought is "OK in my book". So whoever is in the White House is inconsequential to the high esteem I hold for The United States.
Now for Trump:
Day one, DACA should have, by his own words been cancelled. Pure and simple.
Executive Order to begin DACA.
Executive Order to end DACA.
Anything less was a giant fail on Trump's part.
I hope he pays politically for what he has failed to do.
I am a reprobate in anything and everything to further and continually support Trump.
I'm finished with him.