President Donald Trump has made antagonism of immigrant communities a core part of his policy platform since the early days of his presidential campaign. Part of his anti-immigrant agenda included his administration’s attempted shutdown of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, an Obama era program which protects some undocumented immigrants who arrived to the U.S. as children from deportation. The U.S. Supreme Court has now upheld DACA, demanding that it be kept in place, with Chief Justice John Roberts — a Bush appointee — joining the four liberal justices on the court to form the majority.
Breaking: Supreme Court blocks Trump’s decision to end DACA protection for dreamers, ruling the move “arbitrary and capricious". Decision was 5-4 with Chief Justice Roberts joining the court’s liberals.
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) June 18, 2020
The court’s ruling states in part, discussing the Trump administration’s attempted termination of the DACA program:
‘The termination was challenged by affected individuals and third parties who alleged, among other things, that the Acting Secretary had violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) by failing to adequately address important factors bearing on her decision. For the reasons that follow, we conclude that the Acting Secretary did violate the APA, and that the rescission must be vacated.’
The judges then proceed to discuss their conclusion that the attempted end of DACA was unduly “arbitrary and capricious” and thus violated the law.
#SCOTUS rules against Trump administration in challenge to decision to end #DACA program, which allowed noncitizens brought to this country illegally as children to apply for protection from deportation, holding decision was arbitrary and capricious
— SCOTUSblog (@SCOTUSblog) June 18, 2020
The American Civil Liberties Union’s Amber Hikes expressed the sentiments of many when she shared:
‘WE WON!!! 8 years later there’s no question, #homeishere. Generations of immigrants fought for this moment, hundreds of thousands of Dreamers continue to put their lives on the line. When we said we’re gonna get free together- we meant together. #DACA’
OMGGGGGGG best week ever!! WE WON!!! 8 years later there's no question, #homeishere. Generations of immigrants fought for this moment, hundreds of thousands of Dreamers continue to put their lives on the line. When we said we’re gonna get free together- we meant together. #DACA
— Amber Hikes (@AmberHikes) June 18, 2020
‘The court’s ruling will allow the DACA recipients to continue to renew membership in the program that offers them work authorization and temporary protection from deportation.’
This is not the first recent occasion on which the Supreme Court, which currently has two Trump nominees, has delivered a decisive ruling against the Trump administration. Recently, they also handed down a ruling insisting that workplace discrimination on the basis of LGBTQ identity is illegal under current federal law in all 50 states. That ruling suggests that another recent Trump administration initiative — the removal of anti-discrimination protections for transgender people in medical facilities — could be on the rocks.
