WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected President Donald Trump’s effort to end legal protections for 650,000 young immigrants, a stunning rebuke to the president in the midst of his reelection campaign.
The outcome seems certain to elevate the issue in Trump's campaign, given the anti-immigrant rhetoric of his first presidential run in 2016 and immigration restrictions his administration has imposed since then.
The justices rejected administration arguments that the 8-year-old Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program is illegal and that courts have no role to play in reviewing the decision to end DACA.
Here's my statement on the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling protecting #DACA recipients.⬇️⬇️ pic.twitter.com/rW5efhzWYC
— Mario Diaz-Balart (@MarioDB) June 18, 2020
“This court’s decision is a relief. It’s saying to the Dreamers, the court’s side with you and the majority of Americans side with you, as well, and we’re going to find a permanent solution in the long run,” said Melissa Taveras, of the Florida Immigrant Coalition.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court that the administration did not pursue the end of the program properly.
This decision is monumental and it confirms what people across this country know to be true: Dreamers are American and their home is here. pic.twitter.com/DVYszRd9Ev
— Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (@RepDMP) June 18, 2020
“We do not decide whether DACA or its rescission are sound policies,” Roberts wrote. “We address only whether the agency complied with the procedural requirement that it provide a reasoned explanation for its action. Here the agency failed to consider the conspicuous issues of whether to retain forbearance and what if anything to do about the hardship to DACA recipients.”
The Department of Homeland Security can try again, he wrote.