Trump puts DACA program ‘on hold’ despite Supreme Court ruling

Trump administration officials said during a federal court hearing on Friday that they have not “granted or rejected” any request for a program designed to protect undocumented young immigrants from deportation, but instead have been “on hold” while the government is discussing the future of the program.

The virtual hearing in the United States District Court in Maryland was the first time that the administration addressed reports that the Department of Homeland Security was not accepting applications for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, a Despite a recent Supreme Court ruling and a federal judge ordering that the government resume acceptance of applications.

“Although the requests will be received by the department, they will not be granted or rejected, and instead will be withheld, they will be placed in a bucket pending a policy consideration that takes place and which I can now say is still ongoing in the department, “said Stephen Pezzi, attorney for the Department of Justice.

Mr. Pezzi also said that “some or all” applications from DACA beneficiaries seeking to leave the country and return legally had been mistakenly rejected when they should have been withheld.

“In the future, in the last few hours, it has been resolved at least prospectively, so that any DACA-based parole requests will also remain on the pending bucket,” said Mr. Pezzi.

Federal District Judge Paul Grimm, who ordered last week that the government comply with court directives to restore the DACA program, ruled Friday that the Trump administration must clarify the status of the program to the public within 30 days. He instructed Mr. Pezzi to confirm next Friday if the government could commit to updating its US Citizenship and Immigration Services website and send receipts to DACA applicants who are confused about whether their applications have been processed.

Mr. Grimm also instructed plaintiffs and defendants to propose a timeline for a briefing on whether the government should be disregarded.

The hearing was the last in protracted legal battles that began in 2017 with a series of lawsuits challenging the Trump administration’s plan to end DACA. One of the challenges came from Maryland, with the Maryland Maryland Immigration Advocacy Group suing.

Since the Supreme Court ruling in June blocked the administration’s attempt to end DACA in separate proceedings in the Maryland case, government transparency has been a primary concern of immigration attorneys and attorneys. For weeks after the ruling, the USCIS website said the government was no longer accepting DACA requests, which put the administration in conflict with court orders to restore the program. The website was recently updated to acknowledge that the information is out of date.

Mr. Pezzi acknowledged that the website had “outdated and inaccurate information” about the status of the DACA program and said he had pressured the administration to fix it quickly.

“In a circumstance where the agency has not found the time or resources to change its website to accurately reflect what the status is, it probably is not the highest degree of reassurance for plaintiffs [about] a timeline for the decision on the new policy, “Grimm said. He added that the inaccurate information on the website” fuels the plaintiffs’ belief that something underlies this flaw in claims processing, and the delays under consideration are being considered. doing for an ulterior motive. “

The plaintiffs in a 2017 case filed by CASA submitted a letter to Mr. Grimm this month explaining their frustration with what they described as the government’s slow and opaque reaction to two Supreme Court decisions: the Supreme Court’s blockade of the attempted Trump to end DACA and its separate decision on June 29 that dismissed the government’s appeal in the CASA challenge, which the plaintiffs won last year in the United States Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit.

CASA’s letter emphasized that many of those they represented had been waiting years for the opportunity to apply to the DACA program or to be able to safely leave the country to see elderly relatives.

“No one knows what is happening, and it reinforces the impression … that the defendants are not complying with the rule of law,” plaintiffs’ attorney John Freedman said at the hearing.

Friday’s hearing in the United States District Court in Maryland was part of the aftermath of the Supreme Court decision in June, which shocked immigration advocates and angered Trump. Pursuant to Supreme Court action and Mr. Grimm’s orders, the Department of Homeland Security and Citizenship and Immigration Services must accept new applications and return to the Obama-era guide that prohibits the government from sharing information about applicants for DACA with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service.

Over the past month, there has been increasing public pressure for the Trump administration to comply with the latest judicial directives.

“Your Administration’s refusal to comply with the court’s directive is an illegal usurpation of authority in violation of the separation of powers,” said a July 24 letter to Mr. Trump written by the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Jerrold Nadler, Democrat from New York, and Representative Zoe Lofgren, Democrat from California, Chairman of the Judicial Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship.

Washington Post