WASHINGTON, DC — FWD.us President Todd Schulte issued the following statement on the Supreme Court formally issuing its judgment in DHS v. Regents yesterday, once again underscoring that President Trump and his administration unlawfully terminated the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program:

“This lawless behavior is dangerous and wrong, and it needs to stop immediately. USCIS must explain how it is going to comply with the Court’s ruling and orders from lower courts. The Trump Administration’s full and open defiance of the U.S. Supreme Court – which has continued for more than a month after the Court issued its ruling that DACA was unlawfully terminated – sets a dangerous precedent. Instead of issuing guidance about how it will comply with the Court’s ruling, which is not optional, the administration is distorting the ruling and leaking plans to undertake other unlawful activities, all while violating the law by failing to accept new DACA applications.

“To any new potential DACA applicants, we strongly urge you to contact an attorney or legal services provider before submitting your application; unfortunately it is entirely possible the Trump Administration may try to rescind this program again.

“The only acceptable moral, economic and political choice is clear: the President must follow the law, abide by the orders of the Supreme Court and lower courts, and ensure a fast and orderly process for accepting new DACA applicants. If he continues down this lawless path, he will pay a steep political price for siding against the nearly 90% of the public who wants Dreamers protected from deportation.”

BACKGROUND
This morning, plaintiffs in the Batalla Vidal case, which is currently before Judge Garaufis of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, filed a letter with the court asking for a conference to discuss the government’s refusal to comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling.

This follows a separate Friday court order from a federal judge in Maryland implementing the Supreme Court’s ruling. That order specified that the attempted termination of DACA was fully vacated and the DACA program has been fully restored to its pre-rescission status, meaning that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) must immediately begin accepting and processing new DACA applications and applications for advance parole, in addition to continuing to process renewals. USCIS said it had “no comment” on the Friday order and has issued no guidance about restoring DACA.