In a surprising decision, a California federal judge has blocked President Trump’s order rescinding DACA. The court found that the rescission was arbitrary, and questioned the contention that DACA was put in place illegally. While the ruling allows previous DACA holders to file for renewals of their work authorization, it does not allow new DACA applications.
The United States is sure to be sent into further debate over this matter. Over Christmas I published an article that had many people from both sides of the debate weighing in.
The question is, will this help? My take is that it may do more harm than good.
In the immediate wake of the ruling, we’re already seeing headlines about how this alleviates the pressure from Congress to act by the March 5th deadline.
That’s not good.
The only way this problem really gets fixed for the “Dreamers” is through the legislature, not the executive.
Since the original Dream Act was proposed in 2001, Congress has not been able to come to an agreement and send a law to the President’s desk. President Obama created a bandaid – DACA – which was only a holdover until Congress could do it’s job. President Trump – who agrees that these “Dreamers” need legal protection – effectively light a fire under Congress to finally create a law by rescinding DACA, and for the first time in 17 years it looked promising that Congress would reach a solution.
Now Congress can relax a bit – for the time being. I expect the California court’s ruling to be appealed, and likely reversed. There is no reason 1 president’s executive action should have priority over another president’s executive action. Obama’s executive action put it in place; Trump’s executive action removed it.
Congress needs to keep working hard on this fix so that the Dreamers and the American people can move on to other issues affecting this country.
