On June 18, 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Dep't of Homeland Sec. v. Regents of the Univ. of California, 140 S. Ct. 1891 (2020) that the Department of Homeland Security’s (“DHS”) decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Child Arrivals (“DACA”) program violated the Administrative Procedure Act.
The Supreme Court’s decision meant that (1) eligible individuals who never had DACA should have been able to apply for DACA with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”); (2) DACA beneficiaries should have been able to apply for advance parole again (advance parole is permission from the government to re-enter after travel abroad); (3) Current DACA recipients can continue to file a renewal DACA request; (4) DACA recipients whose DACA expired one year ago or less can still file a renewal DACA request; (5) DACA recipients whose DACA expired more than one year ago cannot file a renewal DACA application but can file an initial DACA request; and (6) DACA recipients whose DACA was terminated cannot request a DACA renewal but can file an initial DACA request.
Unfortunately, the DACA victory from the Supreme Court’s decision was short-lived. On July 28, 2020, the Department of Homeland Security announced that effective July 28, 2020, USCIS will reject all pending and future initial requests for DACA, reject all pending and future applications for advance parole absent exceptional circumstances, and limit the period of DACA renewals to one year.
USCIS will continue to adjudicate properly submitted DACA renewal requests.
If you have any questions about the new changes to the DACA program, feel free to contact our office to set up a meeting with one of our attorneys.