Trump Administration Will Reject New DACA Applications While It Reviews Program

The Trump administration announced Tuesday that it will reject new applications to the Obama-era program that protects certain undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children. It will consider renewals on a case-by-case basis but limit them to one year instead of two while it conducts a legal review of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program.

The latest move by the White House defies a federal judge’s ruling this month that the administration must start accepting new applications to the program that has shielded around 700,000 immigrants from the threat of deportation and allowed them to work. Along with rejecting initial DACA requests, the White House will turn down all associated applications for work authorization documents — a move that will add to the economic stress and uncertainty facing undocumented families hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the White House’s efforts to immediately end the DACA program, saying it hadn’t provided adequate justification for doing so. The Trump administration continues to contend the program is illegal.

Ending DACA was one of Trump’s central campaign promises, but he has flip-flopped on the issue in recent years, saying at one point that so-called Dreamers shouldn’t worry because he has “a big heart.”