With September just around the corner, President Donald Trump is running out of time to make a final decision on the fate of DACA and immigrant ‘Dreamers.’
DACA, which stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, was initiated under the Obama administration to provide a path forward for illegal aliens who arrived to the United States before becoming adults.
The program has benefited nearly one million youths, who were given residency and green cards after declaring themselves as unauthorized immigrants.
Despite a string of damnations, President Trump hasn’t yet arrived to a decision on DACA.
Alternating between strong disapproval and an uneasy conscience at the prospect of deporting young men and women who grew up in the United States, Trump has so far refused to take any action on the program.
In his campaign against crime and illegal immigration, the commander-in-chief has frequently cited DACA as being a major problem enabled by his predecessor. At campaign rallies and presidential events, Trump has referred to homicides committed by DACA recipients to frame the danger allegedly posed by Dreams to other Americans.
Although the commander-in-chief himself has remained indecisive, a number of states and legal bodies have proposed and pursued legal action to eliminate DACA.
An effort coordinated by ten conservative states and spearheaded by Texas is considering suing the federal government. Politico.com recounts insight from legal experts who believe that, were the litigation to proceed, the states would probably come out victorious, no matter the stance of Washington and the White House.
That’s especially true, Politico writes, if Judge Andrew Hanen presides over the case.
Hanen blocked part of former President Barack Obama’s broader immigration bill in 2014, reacting with what one insider considered “extreme, extreme hostility.”
That insider, Stephen Legomsky – former chief counsel at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services when Barack Obama launched DACA some five years ago – said Hanen’s anger “was a matter of public record.”
“If Judge Hanen allows them to tack on a DACA challenge, no doubt he will enjoin DACA,” said Legomsky, who is now a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis. “It is more difficult to disrupt an ongoing successful program … All that said, given the judges they’re likely to have, I think they have a very tough challenge.”
Conservative leaders and administrations, including the government of Texas, have derided DACA as an illegal program which incurs large expenses on the part of states. While Dreamers have been out in the open for five years, some politicians claim the money spent on their behalf negates any potential benefit of keeping them stateside – any litigation determined to dismantle the Act would probably include the cost of issuing drivers licenses and other documents to Dreamers as one reason to halt the program.
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