U.S. Supreme Court Rejects End To DACA Protections For Young Immigrants; Arizona Leaders React

By Michel Marizco, Matthew Casey
Alisa Reznick, Arizona Public Media; Associated Press
Published: Thursday, June 18, 2020 - 7:09am
Updated: Thursday, June 18, 2020 - 12:04pm
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The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected President Donald Trump’s effort to end legal protections for 650,000 young immigrants, a stunning rebuke to the president in the midst of his reelection campaign.

The outcome seems certain to elevate the issue in Trump's campaign, given the anti-immigrant rhetoric of his first presidential run in 2016 and immigration restrictions his administration has imposed since then.

The justices rejected administration arguments that the 8-year-old Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program is illegal and that courts have no role to play in reviewing the decision to end DACA.

Arizona Democrat Raul Grijalva called the 5-4 decision a victory.

“It’s a victory for those who fought from childhood and well into their adult lives to send a message that they have every right to exist in the only home they have ever known," said Grijalva. "It’s a strong rejection of one of President Trump’s central ideas of his presidency that seeks to rewrite America’s immigrant heritage and demonize those who don’t look like him.”

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego tweeted: “Wonderful news for our #DACA recipients. They are a crucial part of the fabric of our nation and we are lucky to have them.”

Erika Andiola is herself a DACA recipient who helped create the Arizona Dream Act Coalition. She responded to a Twitter posting about the court’s decision: “I will print this and put it on my wall to remind myself that every fricken action we have taken to fight for this has mattered. We pushed Obama and we defeated Trump. This is the power of organizing and movement building.”

Chief Justice John Roberts joined the Democrat-appointed judges and wrote that then Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke didn’t consider the effects rescinding DACA would have on the program’s recipients.

“Here the agency failed to consider the conspicuous is- sues of whether to retain forbearance and what if anything to do about the hardship to DACA recipients. That dual failure raises doubts about whether the agency appreciated the scope of its discretion or exercised that discretion in a reasonable manner,” he wrote.

An hour after the Supreme Court’s decision, President Donald Trump Tweeted: “Do you get the impression that the Supreme Court doesn’t like me?”

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