Editor’s note: When it comes to immigration – illegal or otherwise – the American people have a right to be concerned. Liberty Nation author Kelli Ballard examines contentious issues related to today’s hottest topic.
The Trump administration has put DACA on the chopping block again, this time rejecting all new applications. It’s no surprise, really, since the president has been adamant and focused on his illegal immigrant control. After recently being sent back to the drawing board after the Supreme Court denied attempts to get rid of the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals program, this is just the next step in getting all the i’s dotted and t’s crossed – which, by the way, is basically what happened in legal proceedings.
The acting secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Chad Wolf, explained the action in a memorandum:
“I direct DHS personnel to take all appropriate actions to reject all pending and future initial requests for DACA, to reject all Page 2 pending and future applications for advance parole absent exceptional circumstances, and to shorten DACA renewals consistent with the parameters established in this memorandum.”
The eight-page memo describes in detail the many attempts and legal outcomes regarding the DACA program. The 2012 controversial policy has taken a lot of heat since its inception, some of which argue the measure is unconstitutional and illegal. Remember, Barrack Obama only established the policy via a memorandum and the Trump administration is trying to remove it by the same method.
In 2017 and 2018, DHS personnel Elaine Duke and Kirstjen Nielsen issued memoranda in favor of rescinding the program, but in 2018 the Supreme Court decided those measures had not met certain requirements, although the court did not argue the authority to rescind DACA policy.
Wolf stated in the memo, “By this memorandum, I am rescinding the 2017 and 2018 memoranda, and making certain immediate changes to the DACA policy to facilitate my thorough consideration of how to address DACA in light of the Supreme Court’s decision.”
Last month, Liberty Nation’s own Legal Affairs Editor Scott D. Cosenza predicted such a scenario during an interview with LN’s Editor in Chief Leesa K. Donner after the Supreme Court denied the removal of the policy:
“If President Trump still wishes to eliminate DACA, he can do so, presumably, by jumping through the various administration law hoops the APA specifies. That would mean new renewal applicants (DACA applicants have to re-apply every two years) would be denied, starting right after the various administrative requirements have been met. If that happens, the former DACA recipients are in the same boat as they were before President Obama decided to create the program: They are illegal immigrants subject to removal.”
The DHS stated in the memo that it has changed the eligibility time frame for DACA participants from the two years mentioned above to just one year.
For all intents and purposes, it looks like the department is regrouping to overhaul the debated policy. In the meantime, while DHS and other interested lawmakers break out the legal reference books and prepare to burn the midnight oil to make sure every conceivable roadblock is removed, no new DACA applications will be accepted.
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Read more from Kelli Ballard.
