DACA survived the US Supreme court

On June 18, 2020, the US Supreme Court reviewed the popular DACA program in a case arising from the Trump administration's plan to dismantle an Obama-era program that has protected 700,000 so-called DREAMers from deportation. The US Supreme Court blocked the administration’s dismantling plan by the vote of 5-4, with Chief Justice John Roberts writing the opinion.

In a sense, the Court was saying the administration should take the responsibility of rescinding DACA by explaining clearly what the policy justifications for the revocation.

Hence, while rejecting the administration’s plan to dismantle DACA, Chief Justice Roberts made clear that an administration can rescind a program like DACA but that the way the administration went about it was wrong.

The recent decision gives DACA and its hundreds of thousands of recipients a lifeline. However, while the court decided that the way Trump went about canceling DACA was illegal, all the justices seemed to agree that the president does have the authority to cancel the program if done properly. This means that, for now, USCIS is still not accepting either first-time applications for DACA or applications from DACA recipients for advance parole.