By Maud Poudat | US Immigration Attorney
Posted: September 14, 2017
On September 5th, 2017 President Trump officially announced that the DACA program will be ending…
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (also known as « DACA ») was an American immigration policy that was established during President Obama’s term back in 2012. This program was set up with the intention of allowing certain cases of illegal immigrants that came into the U.S. as minors the opportunity to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and eligibility for a work permit.
When the policy was put into effect over 800,000 individuals came out, furthering their application in the system and encouraging the Obama administration to seek a greater expansion of the program. However, in the attempt for expansion various states sued with the intent of preventing the implementation of this expansion and ultimately the requests were blocked by the courts. With end of the Obama administration approaching, both parties agreed that the new administration would have to make a decision regarding the future of DACA.
President Trump had already addressed during his campaigning that he would pursue rescinding the program « from day one » in his presidency. Though there are various perspectives regarding this program, his decision on September 5th was mostly based on the view that the DACA-eligible individuals came from law-breaking backgrounds and would potentially impact the wages and employment of native-born American citizens. Pres. Trump also claimed that « virtually all, top legal experts » believed DACA to be unconstitutional.
During the announcement of rescission, it was decided that the implementation of this decision would start after a suspension-period of 6 months. This decision would mean DACA permits during these next months will continue to be renewed and DACA recipients with a permit set to expire before March 5, 2018 will have the opportunity to apply for a two-year renewal if they are able to undergo the process before October 5th. On the other hand, over 800,000 individual DACA-qualifiers will not only become eligible for deportation, they will not have the legal ability to work in the United states, lose their driver’s license depending on the state they are in and live with the assurance that they will be searched for in the country they grew up in.
After the decision on DACA was finalized, Pres. Trump tweeted: « It is now time for Congress to act ! ». Congress will now be on the spotlight to determine legislation regarding the « Dreamers » that qualified previously for DACA and will need to take action in their role and responsibility of setting immigration policy.
If you would like more information regarding the DACA 2017 announcement. You can find the article regarding next steps for phasing out DACA on the U.S. Customs and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) page at: https://www.uscis.gov/daca2017