Potential delay for DACA deadline

Link: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/0...eadline-242742

The Department of Homeland Security is “actively considering” delaying a looming deadline for so called-Dreamers to renew their status under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a Justice Department attorney said at a court hearing Thursday, according to attendees and a government official.

Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate cited the hurricanes that recently hit Texas, Florida and nearby states as grounds for the potential delay to the Oct. 5 deadline, while noting that no final decision had been made, an official said.

Word of the possible delay came as a federal judge signaled that he might postpone the cut-off date unless the Trump administration acted first, attendees at a Thursday court hearing said.

During the session, in federal court in Brooklyn, U.S. District Court Judge Nicholas Garaufis repeatedly labeled the deadline “arbitrary” and said he saw little harm in pushing it back, according to advocates.

“He focused quite a bit on the October 5 deadline and called it arbitrary,” said David Chen, a Yale law student helping litigate the issue, “and said essentially that so many people who are DACA recipients would face quite a lot of harm and experience quite a lot of chaos if they were unable to renew by the deadline.”

The Trump administration announced last week that it was winding down the Obama-era program known DACA, a mechanism used to give quasi-legal status and work permits to about 800,000 undocumented foreigners who arrived in the U.S. as children.

Homeland security officials announced that people whose work permits are set to expire between Sept. 5, 2017, and March 5 of next year must submit a renewal application by Oct. 5 to receive another two-year permit. After March 5, no more DACA permits will be granted, leading to a two-year phase-out of the program, officials said.

However, advocates involved in DACA litigation said a government lawyer indicated that officials were considering extending the deadline.

“At the hearing today, the DOJ lawyer was again noncommittal but did not shut down the possibility of extending the deadline,” Chen said. “He said they took the question to their client, DHS, and they’re considering it.”

Homeland security spokesman David Lapan emphasized Thursday evening that there had been no change to the deadline as of now, but confirmed that a review was underway.

“Acting Secretary Duke has not made a decision to extend the October 5, 2017, deadline for eligible DACA beneficiaries to apply for renewal,” Lapan said in a statement. “The department will evaluate the impact on recipients living in the hurricane-affected areas. Eligible DACA recipients have three weeks remaining to submit their applications. They do not need approval by October 5, only to have submitted a renewal request.”

Despite the decision to wind down the program, President Donald Trump has expressed sympathy for the plight of the DACA recipients and is negotiating with Democratic lawmakers to try to craft legislation that would give Dreamers the legal right to remain in the U.S. Trump’s openness to such a deal has provoked a furious backlash from some anti-immigration hardliners who’ve accused him of abandoning his campaign promises.

Garaufis took note of those discussions and said he’d prefer to see the situation addressed by the administration and Congress, but he appeared willing to step in if that didn’t happen, attendees said.

“He thought this should be dealt with through the political branches, not through the courts, but he did say in three weeks this is happening and the best solution is to extend the October 5 deadline to give folks more time,” said Jess Hanson of the National Immigration Law Center. “He said, I don’t want the court to get involved, but people are going be harmed.”

Thursday’s hearing took place as part of a lawsuit filed last year on behalf of Batalla Vidal, a medical student from Mexico who entered the U.S. with his parents two decades ago. He is challenging the revocation of a three-year work permit he was issued, but advocates are seeking to amend the suit to add arguments that Trump’s decision to end the program is illegal.

While advocates had focused on the recent hurricanes and their impact on DACA recipients’ ability to renew by Oct. 5, Garaufis broadened the issue and said he was concerned that people across the country might not be aware of the deadline, attendees at the hearing said. He also expressed concern for people who could have filed first-time or renewal claims before Sept. 5 but did not because they didn’t know about the announcement.

The Justice Department also faced questions from Garaufis and Magistrate James Orenstein about its legal justification for continuing to implement a program Attorney General Jeff Sessions has labeled “unconstitutional.”

Shumate, the deputy assistant attorney general, did not reply directly on that point, but said the administration considered an orderly wind-down the best course of action given threats that litigation could abruptly halt the program

oh they are just considering it?

Trump is going to shit himself hahahah

From the way I read it - the delay would only be on when they accept the renewals. So no change in who can renew, but perhaps an extension to give those people more time to apply.

Sounds right. It doesn't change who but just when....to give those affected by the hurricanes a chance to gather docs and enough time to apply.