On December 4, 2020, Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York ordered full reinstatement of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. A copy of the order can be found here. This order is a victory for DACA recipients and DACA-eligible youth as it reverses the Trump Administration’s efforts to end the DACA program over the last three years.
Former President Barack Obama implemented the DACA program in 2012. The program shields immigrants who were brought unlawfully to the United States as children from deportation and offers them work permits. To receive DACA, applicants must demonstrate various requirements including continuous residence in the U.S., enrollment or graduation from high school, and lack of felony conviction. A full list of eligibility requirements may be found here.
In his recent decision, Judge Garaufis ordered the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to announce that it was accepting new DACA applications. The Trump Administration in recent years limited the DACA program to renewals and the issuance of DACA grants and work permits to one year. In response to this order, DHS posted an announcement on December 7, 2020, stating that it would begin accepting first-time requests for DACA, applications for advance parole, as well as extension of one year grants of status and work permits to two years.
According to National Public Radio, “DACA currently protects about 640,000 undocumented young immigrants. As of July, an estimated 300,000 young people living in the U.S. are eligible for the program and still waiting for a chance to apply. That includes 55,000 who have aged into eligibility over the last three years.”
While this order marks a victory for the DACA program, this is not the end of the road. DACA faces a legal challenge in a different case that will be heard in Texas later this month, asking for the program to be deemed unlawful. This litigation may prove futile however, as President-elect Joe Biden has already pledged to fully restore the DACA program. While the future remains to be seen, it appears to be brighter once Joe Biden takes office in January.
