On Monday, the Supreme Court announced that no decision would immediately be made regarding the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which means that those currently covered by the policy can still renew their status, the New York Times reported.
BREAKING: The Supreme Court just turned down the Trump admin’s request to review a lower court ruling that blocked the president from ending DACA.
— AJ+ (@ajplus) February 26, 2018
President Donald Trump has openly expressed his desire to end DACA throughout his campaign and throughout his presidency with statements made to the press.
The DACA program was first started by former-President Obama in 2012. The policy helps those who came to the US as minors by exempting them from deportation for two years with a renewable deferred action status while also allowing recipients to be able to get work permits. There are somewhere between 700,000 and 800,000 DACA recipients, also known as DREAMers, enrolled in the program with most of them coming from Mexico, South America, Centra America, Asia and the Caribbean, according to the New York Times.
The White House had requested an immediate decision from the Supreme Court, a unique move, and the decision means that DACA will remain in an uncertain state. Trump previously stated that the program would end in September of last year in an official statement from the White House, citing that he believed the policy was unconstitutional because President Obama enacted it as an executive order and “bypassed Congress.”
Trump also stated that while existing work permits would be honored until their two years ran out, no new applications for work permits would be accepted, in what he hopes will be a “gradual process.”
US Supreme Court refused to hear Trump bid to end DACA, buying “dreamers” more time https://t.co/JaiuZAm92e pic.twitter.com/Wi698DdXav
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) February 27, 2018
The Supreme Court’s decision to not hear an appeal means that DACA recipients will continue to be protected under the program and that lawmakers will pause discussions regarding DACA (which, according to the BBC, could extend as far as the midterm elections in November).