DACA Fact Sheet from Homeland Security

Following President Trump's action to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security put together a fact sheet to help those affected by this decision.

Find the full fact sheet from DHS here. Some details are highlighted below.

What is DACA?

The Obama Administration began DACA in 2012 via Executive Branch Memorandum; Congress rejected this kind of program on multiple occasions through the normal legislative process. The memorandum was born out of another memorandum from former Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano entitled "Exercising Prosecutorial Discretion with Respect to Individuals Who Came to the United States as Children." The constitutionality of DACA has been questioned ever since.

At its core, DACA is a policy that allows certain undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. before they turned 16, and before June 2007, to receive a renewable work permit valid for two years. They also became exempt from deportation. Though the program grants some eligible individuals legal status, it does not provide a pathway to citizenship for participants.

The original criteria for participating in the program were very broad, and are outlined below according to the June 15, 2012 memorandum. Individuals could apply for deferred action if they:

• Had come to the U.S. before their 16th birthday
• Were under age 31
• Had continuously lived in the U.S. since June 15, 2007
• Were in school OR had graduated or had obtained a certificate of completion from high school, OR obtained a GED certificate, OR were honorably discharged from the Coast Guard or Armed Forces of the U.S.

Applicants were ineligible if they had even been convicted of a felony or significant misdemeanor, though they could remain eligible if they had been convicted of up to two other misdemeanors.

What's happening now?

On September 4, 2017, the Attorney General sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security stating his legal determination. He said the program was instituted through executive action, without proper authority, and "with no established end-date, after Congress' repeated rejection of proposed legislation that would have accomplished a similar result." The Attorney General found DACA unconstitutional. After this decision, President Trump had to decide whether to leave DACA alone with the high likelihood that it would be disrupted by the court system, or begin to phase out the program. On September 6, 2017, Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Duke issued a memorandum to rescind the June 2012 memo establishing DACA, and setting a plan to phase out the program. Accordingly, the Department of Homeland Security will provide a small window to adjudicate certain DACA requests.

What will DHS do now?

DHS released a list of action that they will and will not take, effective immediately. DHS will adjudicate properly filed pending DACA initial requests, that were accepted prior to this memorandum, on an individual basis. All DACA initial requests filed after September 6 will be rejected. Properly filed pending DACA renewal requests will be adjudicated on an individual basis. These applicants must have been previously accepted. DHA will not approve any new applications for Form I-131 for advance parole under standards associated with DACA. However, DHS will generally honor the validity periods previously approved for advanced parole.

If you have any questions, or would like to discuss your case specifically, please contact us.

DACA Rescission