It’s been six months since President Donald Trump moved to end DACA and Washington seems to be no closer to a resolution on the day everything was supposed to be solved by.
Today, March 5 was originally supposed to be a deadline of sorts for action. When Trump ended the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program back in September, he gave Congress a six-month period to come up with a legislative version of the policy.
The Department of Homeland Security was going to renew two-year DACA permits that expired before March 5, and for those DREAMers whose permits expired after today, they would begin expiring for good.
But multiple federal judges ruled that the justification the Trump administration was using to end the program was shaky at best and ordered DHS to resume renewing all existing DACA permits. Just last week the Supreme Court declined the administration’s unusual request to leapfrog the appellate courts and this decision rendered the March 5 deadline meaningless.
Activists are still marking this day with demonstrations and advocacy campaigns. Hundreds of DACA supporters are expected to descend on Washington to push for action, but the calls for a fix stand in contrast with the lack of momentum for any progress in Washington.
Congress has a few options lingering on the back burner, but none are showing signs of imminent movement. In the meantime, most think DACA recipients will continue in limbo, especially with the courts ensuring that renewals can continue for now.
“It’s good news for people in the DACA program, because they can continue renewing their permits. I have mixed feelings on what it means for us here, because we know this institution sometimes only works as deadlines approach, and now there isn’t a deadline,” Rep. Carlos Curbelo said.
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