Supreme Court Rules Against Trump’s Unusual Request Regarding Immigration
What does the latest Supreme Court ruling on the DACA issue mean?
The Trump administration made a request recently to have The Supreme Court take on a case that is presently being considered by a federal appeals court. Such a request is highly unusual since the justice system normally works methodically and sequentially. Many “dreamers” (those immigrants who were brought to this country when they were children) and their supporters experienced Trump’s request as a thinly veiled threat. In California and throughout the country, immigrant communities have been increasingly on edge anyway, especially as the March 5th deadline approaches and many illegal immigrants have already been rounded up, detained, and deported. If you are an illegal immigrant in California, dreamer or not, it is crucial that you contact an experienced immigration attorney to clarify your options and protect yourself and your family.
The case in question involves a ruling on the DACA Act, an executive action taken by former President Obama. DACA stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. The DACA Act, which provided work permits and protection from deportation for approximately 800,000 young people, was challenged once President Trump came to power. In September, President Trump insisted that Obama had exceeded his executive powers when he created the program and subsequently announced that he was ending the program effective March 5th of 2018, giving lawmakers until then to come up with a legislative way to fix the problem.
Is the latest Supreme Court decision good for the dreamers?
Because President Trump now seems to have the Supreme Court leaning his way, the fact that the justices have refused to take the case out of the hands of the federal appeals court is being counted as a victory — however temporary — by DACA supporters.
President Trump’s stance is that, in spite of his interference with the “Dream Act,” he would “like to help the dreamers, and that his desire to move the case through the courts more quickly is designed to save the them from deportation, rather than to hasten the process. Now that his supposedly well-intentioned action has been ruled against, he says, “…the Supreme Court just ruled that it (the case) has to go through the normal channels.”
Other Pertinent Factors
In spite of the legal and moral arguments being made by both supporters and opponents of keeping dreamers in this country, federal judges in San Francisco and New York have temporarily overridden Trump’s deadline since their local judges have issued injunctions ordering the administration to keep DACA in place while courts consider legal challenges to Trump’s discontinuation of Obama’s policy. Because the rulings do not apply to people who are applying for protection for the first time, such immigrants are not affected by the forthcoming decision. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has therefore resumed accepting and processing DACA renewals in January, just as it had been doing before Trump’s September announcement.
Now that the March 5th date is no longer relevant, the Trump administration has not bothered to block injunctions that force it to continue managing the program. Though the March 5th date is no longer a functional red line, the policy and advocacy director for United We Dream, Greisa Martinez, has announced that DACA supporters plan to demonstrate in Washington on that day for symbolic reasons.
Now It’s Up to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
The judicial system, even in such high profile cases, does not move quickly. At this point, the Ninth Circuit Court has set a deadline for legal briefs to be filed through the month of April. Andrew Pincus, an attorney representing more than 100 businesses that have intervened in support of DACA, says that the earliest probable date of a court decision will be in June.
Trump, who has little faith that he’ll get his way in the liberal Ninth Circuit Court, still has hopes that the Supreme Court will squelch the dreams of many immigrants, declaring “in the 9th Circuit we lose, we lose, we lose and then we do fine in the Supreme Court.”
If you reside in California and you or your loved ones have problems involving illegal immigration, this is the time to consult with a highly qualified professional. Even now that the March 5th deadline has been extended, in such uncertain times, you need clarification and Guidance to keep you and your family safe and intact.
Posted in: Immigration Law