For Immediate Release: December 4, 2020
Contact: Donna De La Cruz, media@ilrc.org
Judge Rules DACA Program to be Restored in Full
The Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) applauded a federal judge’s decision to return the DACA program to its initial form. In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis in New York reaffirmed his decision made in November invalidating the U.S. Department of Homeland Security memorandum limiting the availability of the DACA program.
During the status conference in November, Garaufis had said that the 2012 DACA memorandum should be the law that is “on the books.”
“The ruling is a huge victory for people who have been waiting to apply for DACA for the first time,” said Veronica Garcia, Staff Attorney at the ILRC. “Wolf’s decision to suspend the program was just another attempt by the Trump administration to wield its extremely racist and anti-immigrant views and policies.”
The ILRC has issued a Blueprint for the Next Administration calling for the DACA program to be fully restored and “applicants can continue to both file initial applications for DACA protection and renew their status as needed. The administration should also review renewal applications that have been denied since 2017 and restore DACA for recipients that have been deported as a result of such denials,” the Blueprint states.