The situation

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has ordered the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to fully reinstate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, but has stayed its order for 90 days to give DHS an opportunity to provide legal reasoning defending the Trump Administration’s decision to rescind the DACA program.

Should the order take effect after 90 days, DHS would be required to accept new DACA applications as well as applications for advance parole from DACA beneficiaries. Pursuant to an earlier federal court ruling, DHS continues to accept DACA renewal applications.

The cases are NAACP v. Trump and Princeton University v. United States.

Background

Yesterday’s ruling is the latest federal court order blocking the Trump Administration from terminating DACA. The Administration originally planned to terminate the program by March 5, 2018. Before the March 5 effective date, however, two federal courts ordered DHSto resume accepting DACA applications from foreign nationals who had previously received DACA benefits.

An appeal to the Supreme Court for a fast-track review of those orders was denied and DHS resumed accepting DACA petitions from applicants who had previously received DACA benefits, while litigation proceeded in lower courts.

The earlier federal court orders did not, however, require DHS to consider new DACA applications from those who had never obtained DACA benefits or require DHS to make advance parole available to qualifying DACA beneficiaries.

What this means

The court order does not have an immediate impact on current or potential DACA beneficiaries, but should DHS fail to provide a legal basis for the rescission that satisfies the federal court, it would be required to begin accepting applications from new DACA applicants on July 23, 2018. It would also be required to accept advance parole applications from DACA beneficiaries.

This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have questions about DACA, please contact the immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen.