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A6 U.S. NEWS
Wednesday 13 november 2019
Split Supreme Court appears ready to allow Trump to end DACA

WASHINGTON (AP) — direct reference to Trump,
Sharply at odds with lib- saying he told DACA re-
eral justices, the Supreme cipients "that they were
Court's conservative major- safe under him and that
ity seemed ready Tuesday he would find a way to
to allow the Trump admin- keep them here. And so he
istration to abolish protec- hasn't."
tions that permit 660,000 She also complained that
immigrants to work in the the administration's ratio-
U.S., free from the threat of nale has shifted over time
deportation. and has mainly relied on
That outcome would "de- the view that DACA is ille-
stroy lives," declared Jus- gal, leaving no choice but
tice Sonia Sotomayor, one to end it.
the court's liberals who re- In her most barbed com-
peatedly suggested the ment, Sotomayor said the
administration has not ade- administration has failed to
quately justified its decision plainly say "that this is not
to end the seven-year-old about the law. This is about
Deferred Action for Child- our choice to destroy lives."
hood Arrivals program. Nor Solicitor General Noel Fran-
has it taken sufficient ac- cisco, representing the ad-
count of the personal, eco- ministration, did not directly
nomic and social disruption respond to Sotomayor. But
that might result, they said. near the end of the 80-min-
But there did not appear to ute arguments, he asserted
be any support among the that the administration has
five conservatives for block- taken responsibility for its
ing the administration. The decision and is relying on
nine-member court's deci- more than merely its belief
sion is expected by June, that DACA is illegal. The ad-
at the height of the 2020 ministration has the author-
presidential campaign. ity to end DACA, even if it's
President Donald Trump legal, because it's bad pol-
said on Twitter that DACA icy, he said. "We own this,"
recipients shouldn't despair Martín Batalla Vidal waits in line at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York to take a bus to Francisco said.
if the justices side with him, Washington, Monday, Nov. 11, 2019. If the court agrees with the
pledging that "a deal will Associated Press administration in the DACA
be made with the Dems for case, Congress could fol-
them to stay!" But Trump's camped out in front of the expansion of DACA and Nielsen's memo at one low up by voting to put
past promises to work with court for days for a chance creation of similar protec- point as "a very considered the program on surer legal
Democrats on a legisla- at some of the few seats tions, known as DAPA, for decision." Roberts suggest- footing. But the absence of
tive solution for these immi- available. The term comes undocumented immigrants ed that worries that DACA is comprehensive immigra-
grants have led nowhere. from never-passed propos- whose children are U.S. citi- not legal might be enough tion reform by Congress is
The president also said in als in Congress called the zens as reasons to bring the to support ending it. what prompted Obama
his tweet that many pro- DREAM Act. program to a halt. Roberts, who could hold to create DACA in the first
gram participants, brought The high court arguments After lower courts stepped the pivotal vote on the place, in 2012, giving peo-
to the U.S. as children and did not involve any discus- in to keep the program court, aimed his few ques- ple two-year renewable
now here illegally, are "far sion of individual DACA re- alive, the administration tions at lawyers represent- reprieves from the threat of
from 'angels,'" and he false- cipients or Trump's claims. produced a new explana- ing DACA recipients and deportation while also al-
ly claimed that "some are Instead the focus was on tion memo from Homeland their supporters. He did not lowing them to work.
very tough, hardened crim- whether either of two ad- Security Secretary Kirstjen seriously question the ad- Young immigrants, civil
inals." The program bars ministration rationales for Nielsen. ministration's argument. rights groups, universities
anyone with a felony con- ending DACA, begun Chief Justice John Roberts However, justices' questions and Democratic-led cities
viction from participating, under President Barack and Justice Brett Kava- don't always foretell their and states sued to block
and serious misdemeanors Obama, was enough. naugh were among the votes. In June the chief jus- the administration. They
may also bar eligibility. Trump's anti-immigrant justices who indicated on tice surprised many when persuaded courts in New
Some DACA recipients, rhetoric was a key part of Tuesday that the admin- he cast the deciding vote York, San Francisco and
commonly known as his presidential campaign istration has provided suf- to prevent the administra- Washington, D.C., that the
"Dreamers," were in the in 2016, and his administra- ficient reason for doing tion from adding a citizen- administration had been
courtroom for the argu- tion has pointed to a court away with the program. ship question to the 2020 "arbitrary and capricious"
ments, and many people ruling striking down the Kavanaugh referred to census, despite not voicing in its actions, in violation of
much skepticism during ar- a federal law that requires
guments in the case. policy changes to be done
Justices Neil Gorsuch and in an orderly way.
Samuel Alito raised ques- If the justices sustain the
tions on Tuesday about challenges, the administra-
whether courts should even tion could try again to end
be reviewing the executive the program. A lawsuit in
branch's discretionary de- Texas claiming that DACA
cisions. is illegal also would be likely
Sotomayor made the only to go forward.q