Washington, DC – Today, the Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that the Trump Administration did not give adequate justification for ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. However, the opinion leaves room for the Administration to try and terminate the program again if it provides a more thorough explanation for its decision in the future.
The DACA program was created in 2012 under the Obama Administration to provide temporary work authorization for individuals who entered the United States as children. More than 800,000 undocumented immigrants have been granted DACA status. There are over 9,000 Vietnamese individuals eligible for relief under the program.
“We applaud the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the DACA program,” said Quyen Dinh, executive director of SEARAC. “Undocumented immigrants are part of the American tapestry and must be afforded the same protections as any other American, especially during this pandemic, where immigrants often serve as essential workers. While we celebrate this important decision, we recognize that our movement must continue to fight for all Americans during this tumultuous time by defunding the police force funneling immigrants into deportation proceedings, providing a permanent pathway to citizenship for all immigrants, and ending deportations for Southeast Asians and other immigrant communities.”
