iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department on Thursday night asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) case and resolve the dispute this term — in an effort to move forward with the termination of the program.
An “immediate review is warranted,” by the Supreme Court, reads the DOJ petition.
“The district court has entered a nationwide injunction that requires DHS to keep in place a policy of non-enforcement that no one contends is required by federal law and that DHS has determined is, in fact, unlawful and should be discontinued,” the petition continues.
There is currently a nationwide injunction in place forcing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to resume accepting DACA renewal applications, which it did on Saturday.
The judge that issued the injunction, wrote “that the rescission [of DACA] was arbitrary and capricious.”
“DACA covers a class of immigrants whose presence, seemingly all agree, pose the least, if any, threat and allows them to sign up for honest labor on the condition of continued good behavior,” wrote Federal District Court Judge William Alsup.
The White House called the ruling “outrageous” and said in a statement that “an issue of this magnitude must go through the normal legislative process.”
The Justice Department appealed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which it was required to do in order to ask for a direct review at the Supreme Court.
Earlier this week, the DOJ announced it would take the rare step of seeking a review at the Supreme Court before the appeals court has issued a ruling.
The Supreme Court usually doesn’t grant cases without the appeals process being completed.
Since the DACA program began in 2012 under the Obama administration, nearly 800,000 unauthorized immigrants have been granted protection at some point.
On Sept. 5, the Trump administration announced it was ending the program for young people known as Dreamers, who were brought to the U.S. as children.
“To have a lawful system of immigration that serves the national interest. We cannot admit everyone who would like to come here,” said Attorney General Jeff Sessions while announcing the end to the program.
At the time of the announcement, there were around 689,800 people were enrolled in DACA.
Since then, at least 12,710 have had their status expire.
DACA recipients who had status through March 5 of this year were allowed to re-apply for the two-year extension, but as the numbers show many young people have already begun to lose their status.
The administration has insisted that only Congress can create a permanent solution.
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