Supreme Court Rules Trump Can’t End DACA—At Least For Now

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) protects hundreds of thousands of young undocumented citizens whose parents immigrated to the United States.

Getty Images/DACA recipients and their supporters rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court on June 18
Getty Images/DACA recipients and their supporters rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court on June 18

In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the Trump administration may not immediately move forward with its plan to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA). The program protects hundreds of thousands of young undocumented citizens whose parents immigrated to the United States.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. sided with the Court’s four liberal justices, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan to uphold the program. 

“We do not decide whether DACA or its rescission are sound policies,” said Roberts, who wrote the majority opinion. “We address only whether the agency complied with the procedural requirement that it provide a reasoned explanation for its action.”

President Barack Obama launched the DACA program in 2012.Though it doesn’t grant a path to citizenship for young people who were brought to the country as children, the program allows DACA applicants or DREAMers to be  “lawfully present” without the threat of deportation and to apply for driver’s licenses and work permits.

Though the Court’s ruling said the administration didn’t provide sufficient justification for ending DACA, it said administration officials could try again to provide sufficient reasoning in a lower court. But the process will likely take many months, putting the administration’s DACA-ending efforts “in limbo” until after the November election, the New York Times reported

The Supreme Court’s decision came several days after it made another key ruling that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act also protects gay and transgender individuals from workplace discrimination. The landmark ruling has been praised as a massive victory for LGBTQ+ rights.

In response to the DACA decision, Trump criticized the Supreme Court in a tweet on Thursday.

“These horrible & politically charged decisions coming out of the Supreme Court are shotgun blasts into the face of people that are proud to call themselves Republicans or Conservatives,” Trump said. “We need more Justices or we will lose our 2nd. Amendment & everything else. Vote Trump 2020!”

He then quickly followed up with another tweet asking, “Do you get the impression that the Supreme Court doesn’t like me?”

Trump’s tweet admonishing the justices comes despite the fact that he has appointed two of them during his time as president: Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.

Former president Barack Obama weighed in on the news as well: