In a blow to the Trump administration’s attempts to roll back Obama-era programs, the Supreme Court ruled the President could not immediately end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Also known as DACA, the program was established by executive action in 2012 to protect immigrants who came to the U.S. when they were children from deportation proceedings. Since the program was created, more than 825,000 immigrants have had DACA status.
While the decision is a victory for some immigrants and advocacy groups, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. made it clear that the decision was based on procedural issues and that the Trump administration could try to redress them.
President Trump’s push to end DACA was a key part of his campaign platform and will likely continue. In a tweet on June 19, Trump vowed to try again. “We will be submitting enhanced papers shortly in order to properly fulfill the Supreme Court’s ruling & request of yesterday,” Trump wrote.
For the time being, the decision comes as a sense of relief for some DACA recipients. Here’s what Vanessa Meraz told Buzzfeed News:
“The rush of relief I felt in that moment is indescribable and all I could do was cry to my parents. We didn’t expect this decision at all,” she said.
Marez immigrated to the US from Mexico with her parents when she was three years old.
“The decision today was an enormous win for nearly 700,000 DACA recipients like me and our families,” Marez said. “But there is still much work to do to ensure permanent protections for all undocumented folks in this country.
There are also several other consequential cases the Supreme Court has yet to rule on.
They include an abortion rights case with roots that stem back to 2014. And of course, there’s the matter of the president’s taxes. How the court decides any of the cases could have major implications in the coming 2020 election.
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