DACA Rescission: Ending Protections for 700,000 Dreamers

Overview

DACA recipients did not choose to come to the United States. They were brought as children, grew up here, attended American schools, learned to speak English, built lives, started families. Many speak only English. Many have never been back to the countries where they were born. Many have U.S.-citizen spouses and children.

In September 2017, the Trump administration announced it would deport them.

The Vulnerability of Registration

The cruelest dimension of the rescission announcement was its implication for the program's structure. DACA recipients had voluntarily registered with the federal government, provided their addresses and personal information, and submitted to background checks — in exchange for protection.

Rescission would have turned that database into a deportation target list. The people who had done everything right — who had registered, paid fees, passed background checks, stayed in school — would have been the most easily located by immigration enforcement.

Congress Fails to Act

The six-month wind-down period was presented as an opportunity for Congress to pass legislation protecting DACA recipients — something polls showed 70-80% of Americans supported. Congress failed. Multiple bipartisan deals were attempted; the most notable was killed after Trump reportedly used vulgar language to describe immigrants from Africa and Central America in a meeting with senators, describing their home countries as "shithole countries."

The Supreme Court

The Supreme Court's June 2020 ruling was not a vindication of DACA's constitutionality. It was a holding that the Trump administration had not followed proper administrative procedure in rescinding the program — had not provided adequate reasons for the change in policy, as required by the Administrative Procedure Act.

The ruling preserved DACA through the remainder of Trump's term. The underlying legal question of whether DACA can be rescinded through proper procedure was left open.