DACA: Past, Present, Future

As it is well known, in September of 2017, President Trump rescinded the DACA program, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program that allows undocumented immigrants, who came to the U.S. as children, to work and study in the U.S. Trump challenged Congress to come up with legislation by March 5^th, the date on which these young immigrants would lose their legal protection from deportation.  Currently there are several proposals for comprehensive immigration reform in the Senate. During a recent round of voting in the Senate, none received the required 60 votes. At this point it seems unlikely that Congress will be able to enact legislation in time for the March 5^th deadline.

However, on January 10, the US District Court of the Northern District of California temporarily blocked the White House from ending the DACA program. Another federal court has also issued an injunction.  So while the court battles continue, the DACA program will also continue and the March 5^th deadline has become less critical. The government is required to continue processing DACA renewal requests for people already enrolled in the program and those whose enrollment lapsed before September 5, 2017.