Biden Moves to Undo Trump's Attempts to
Rescind DACA
Rescind DACA
Wednesday, January 20, 2021
 President Biden | President Joseph R. Biden moved today to preserve and fortify the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, directing the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Attorney General, to "take all actions he deems appropriate, consistent with applicable law, to preserve and fortify DACA." The action, embodied in a Presidential Memorandum was one of six migration-related actions taken by the new president on his first day in office. |
The Presidential Memorandum commends the DACA program, asserting the persons who have been protected by it "were brought to the United States as children, have obeyed the law, and stayed in school or enlisted in the military." Continuing, it asserts that "DACA reflects a judgment that these immigrants should not be a priority for removal based on humanitarian concerns and other considerations, and that work authorization will enable them to support themselves and their families, and to contribute to our economy, while they remain.
The DACA program was initiated by executive order under President Obama in 2012. The Trump Administration tried for four years to terminate the program but was stopped in the courts. Nonetheless, for most of the Trump Administration's existence, only renewal applications were accepted by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), not new DACA applications.
DACA temporarily protects those undocumented persons who apply for and are granted DACA status from removal, providing them with work permits (Employment Authorization Document or EAD) and in some cases, travel permits (Advance Parole). Without DACA, they are at immediate risk of deportation.
USCIS will now accept new DACA applications, renew current applications, and grant EADs and Advance Parole to those eligible. However, litigation is pending in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that could put a halt to the program.
DACA temporarily protects those undocumented persons who apply for and are granted DACA status from removal, providing them with work permits (Employment Authorization Document or EAD) and in some cases, travel permits (Advance Parole). Without DACA, they are at immediate risk of deportation.
USCIS will now accept new DACA applications, renew current applications, and grant EADs and Advance Parole to those eligible. However, litigation is pending in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that could put a halt to the program.
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