Trump administration pares back DACA ahead of an uncertain fall

Education Dive

Hallie Busta

Naaz Modan

July 28, 2020

Dive Brief:

• The Trump administration is scaling back the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program while it reviews the Obama-era policy, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced Tuesday afternoon.

• New requests for DACA will be rejected and the renewal period of existing protections will be reduced from two years to one.

• The announcement comes nearly six weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the program, saying the administration did not follow proper administrative procedures in its attempt to end it.

Dive Insight:

In its majority opinion keeping the program in place, the court wrote the administration’s attempt to end DACA was “arbitrary and capricious” and didn’t provide enough of a reason for doing so. However, legal experts said the decision effectively pointed the administration to the proper procedural path to eliminate the program.

The Homeland Security Department’s memo, written by Acting Secretary Chad Wolf, says the program “presents serious policy concerns that may warrant its full rescission,” which requires “additional careful consideration.” The department is paring back the program while it considers what to do next, he said.

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