Supreme Court rules Trump administration cannot end DACA

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The United States Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the Trump administration cannot end an Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy that protects nearly hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the United States as a child from deportation.

The 5-4 ruling, was written by Chief Justice John Roberts, and joined by liberal Justices Ruth Badger Ginsburg, Elena Kagan, Stephen Breyer, and Sonia Sotomayor.

Roberts wrote in the ruling that the Trump administration failed to give a sufficient reason to end the federal program known as DACA. However, the Trump administration has the ability to shut it down, but the court found the way it tried to against federal law.

"The dispute before the Court is not whether DHS may rescind DACA. All parties agree that it may. The dispute is instead primarily about the procedure the agency followed in doing so," Justice Roberts wrote in the opinion.

"We conclude that the acting secretary did violate the [Administrative Procedure Act]," and that the decision to end DACA "must be vacated," Roberts added.

Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanuagh all dissented from the decision. Clarence Thomas wrote in the dissent, "Today’s decision must be recognized for what it is: an effort to avoid a politically controversial but legally correct decision."

Reactions

Later, President Trump tweeted that the decision was “horrible” and “politically charged,” as well as asking whether people get the impression that the Supreme Court “doesn’t like” him. 

These horrible & politically charged decisions coming out of the Supreme Court are shotgun blasts into the face of people that are proud to call themselves Republicans or Conservatives. We need more Justices or we will lose our 2nd. Amendment & everything else. Vote Trump 2020!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 18, 2020

Former President Obama said in a tweet that he’s “happy for them, their families, and all of us. We may look different and come from everywhere, but what makes us American are our shared ideals,” and encourages Americans to vote for his vice president and now Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

...and now to stand up for those ideals, we have to move forward and elect @JoeBiden and a Democratic Congress that does its job, protects DREAMers, and finally creates a system that’s truly worthy of this nation of immigrants once and for all.

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) June 18, 2020

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said “we are very proud” in response to the ruling. “This way is the American way and we are very proud of it,” she said.

"This way is the American way and we are very proud of it," Speaker Nancy Pelosi says of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Pres. Trump's ending of DACA protections. https://t.co/imIPnD7vhG pic.twitter.com/A71DqbNaAd

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) June 18, 2020