Supreme Court Defers DACA Appeal

The Supreme Court rejected the administration's request to speed up the legal fight over the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The program offered protections and benefits for undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children. President Donald Trump had decided to end the program last year and requested the court to assess the legality of the program. The Supreme Court’s decision to defer this suggests that an appeal court should look into the legal battle before they consider it. The decision prolongs the process of deciding the legality of the program allowing Dreamers, the immigrants of the program, time to renew their participation in DACA. It also allows Congress more time to craft a legislative solution to the issue.

In addition to the Supreme Court’s deferral decision, two judges had issued injunctions that required administration to continue renewing permits for the DACA program. Trump had previously agreed to allow DACA recipients with permits expiring before March 5 the ability to renew them. Permits expiring after the date, however, would not be renewable which ends the recipient’s right to work legally in the U.S. The two preliminary injunctions ordered the Trump administration to resume DACA renewals until the legal case was settled. But the injunctions do not require the acceptance of new DACA applications. Despite this, the Supreme Court’s deferral and the injunctions has been considered a large win for Dreamers and allows Congress more time to decide what is in store for DACA recipients.