Supreme Court Protects DACA, Says Trump Didn’t Provide Reason

The Supreme Court made a monumental ruling in favor of DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. The Trump administration had been trying to end the program, but the court ruled that they cannot do so at this time.

The reason for the denial, they said in explaining the decision, was not based on the inherent qualities of DACA itself. Per CNN, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that the court had no concern in determining if DACA was a sound policy or if it would have been a sound policy to overturn it. They simply addressed whether or not the government had “complied with the procedural requirement that it provide a reasoned explanation for its action.” They determined that the administration did not provide a good enough reason to eliminate the program and so ruled against the move.

The DACA program protects children who were brought into the United States in an undocumented fashion by their parents. Essentially, it means that a child who grew up in the U.S. cannot be deported to a country they may not even remember just because it turns out that the family was undocumented.

The reason that this ruling is so surprising is that the Supreme Court has a Republican majority. And, in fact, most of them simply stuck with party lines. It was Roberts who decided not to do so, though, swinging the vote against the current Republican administration.

This is a massive ruling for immigration in general and for childhood arrivals in particular. It will be fascinating to see how it influences policy to come. All immigrants should know how it may impact their status and what legal rights they have.