Washington D.C.– Following New York Judge Nicholas Garaufis’s ruling on Friday in the Batalla Vidal v Wolf lawsuit, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has complied with the court’s decision to immediately reinstate the DACA program to its original form, before September 5, 2017, when Trump first tried to end it. On Monday, USCIS posted to its website that it will now be considering first-time DACA applications, renewal requests, and advance parole requests and that the 65,800 one-year DACA grants and work authorizations issued after acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf’s invalid July memo will be immediately extended to two years.
In November, the court found that Wolf had been unlawfully appointed to his role when he issued his memo slashing DACA protections, despite the Supreme Court’s rejection of the Trump administration’s efforts to end the program. Friday’s ruling set aside Wolf’s memo and immediately reinstated DACA.
The Home Is Here Coalition – representing 100+ organizations across the country – released the following statement:
“Judge Garaufis’s ruling is an incredible victory for DACA recipients across the country and the thousands of DACA-eligible youth who were denied the chance to apply to the program following Chad Wolf’s unlawful memo. This order has proven once again that the Trump administration’s attempts to end DACA have always lacked the legal standing to prevail. No matter what happens, immigrant youth, our loved ones and allies know that DACA is right.
There’s no time to waste in making sure our communities get the protections they deserve. We are encouraging every undocumented youth to visit homeishere.us to get the information they need about applying and renewing so that they can make the most sound decision for themselves. We are also asking anyone who wants to support immigrant youth at this moment to donate money to the DACA fund, so that those in need can get support with the fees.
For far too long, our communities have been kept in legal limbo as the Trump administration has continuously pursued every opportunity to attack us. That’s why, for us, DACA is only the floor when it comes to immigrant protections. As we look towards the incoming Biden-Harris administration, we will continue to fight for permanent solutions for all immigrants, including the over 11 million undocumented because our home is here.”
