Judge Rules Acting DHS Secretary Lacked Authority To Suspend DACA Program

Chad Wolf, the acting secretary of homeland security, is pictured on Sept. 23. A federal judge said he was not authorized to issue a July memo limiting the restrictions of DACA recipients.

Greg Nash/Pool/Getty Images

 A federal judge in New York City says Chad Wolf was not legally serving as the acting secretary of homeland security when he issued a memo in July that stopped new applicants to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

Therefore, Judge Nicholas Garaufis of the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of New York ruled Saturday, Wolf's memo is invalid.

It's the latest court ruling against the Trump administration's attempts to undo the Obama-era program that currently protects about 640,000 young immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children.

In June, the Supreme Court blocked the Trump administration's attempt in 2017 to cancel DACA, saying the administration's reasoning was "arbitrary and capricious." In July, a federal court in Maryland told the administration to start accepting new applicants.

Instead, Wolf issued a memo on July 28 that, Judge Garaufis wrote, "effectively suspended DACA" pending a Department of Homeland Security review. Wolf's memo said the administration would reject new applicants. It also said the administration would renew protections for immigrants who already have them, but for just one year, instead of two years, which was the previous policy.

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2020/11/14/935053651/judge-rules-acting-dhs-secretary-did-not-have-authority-to-suspend-daca-program