The Department of Homeland Security announced that it will begin to accept new applications for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program which protects undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children from deportation.
On Friday December 4th, Federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis, ordered the Trump administration to restore DACA which is a significant step forward for DREAMers and for those who are eligible, but had been barred from applying.
As of yesterday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin to accept new applications and renewal requests as well as extending it to two years instead of one. Judge Nicholas Garaufis’ order backed up his ruling in November that Chad Wolf was not legally serving as Homeland Security secretary at the time when he signed the new rules limiting application and renewals for DACA.
Trump and his administration tried to end the program back in 2017, but the U.S. Supreme Court stopped their attempt. Because of the ruling, Chad Wolf released a memo stating that DACA would no longer be accepting new applications and that renewals would be limited to one year instead of two.
Judge Garaufis’ new orderstated, “DHS is DIRECTED to post a public notice, within 3 calendar days of this Order, to be displayed prominently on its website and on the websites of all other relevant agencies, that it is accepting first-time requests for consideration of deferred action under DACA, renewal requests, and advance parole requests, based on the terms of the DACA program prior to September 5, 2017, and in accordance with this court’s Memorandum & Order of November 14, 2020”
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) tried to correct itself by having Pete Gaynor, who is Senate- confirmed Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator, to temporarily exercise the authority of Homeland Security secretary in order to alleviate the concerns over Wolf’s legitimacy. But Judge Garaufis responded, “Neither Administrator Gaynor nor Mr. Wolf currently possesses, nor have they ever possessed, the powers of the Acting Secretary of Homeland Security.”
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