The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday the fate of 800,000 people brought to the United States illegally as children should first go through the lower courts.
In Southern Arizona, the decision means more time in limbo for recipients of the Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which protects recipients from deportation. The decision also means more pressure on Congress to find a solution, according to local politicians and lawyers.
Arizona was home to 30,850 DACA recipients as of June 2017, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. At that time, the agency had processed nearly 27,000 renewal requests.
The decision by the Supreme Court is “good news” for DACA recipients who want to request a renewal, said Mo Goldman, a Tucson immigration lawyer. Some of his clients were unsure whether to file for a renewal ahead of the March 5 deadline set by President Trump in September.
Citizenship and Immigration Services is not accepting new DACA applications, but due to recent federal court orders the agency has resumed accepting renewal requests, according to a Feb. 14 update on the agency’s website.
Goldman spoke with several DACA recipients in recent months who “put on a brave face” about their situation, but, “The uncertainty is terrible for their mental state.”
Goldman said he expected the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to hear arguments on DACA later in the year.
“Everybody’s going to kind of be in limbo for the next several months,” Goldman said.
Republican state Rep. Mark Finchem objected to how the Obama administration created DACA, saying, “You can’t rule by decree.”
Trump is “forcing Congress to do what they should have done in the first place,” said Finchem, who represents the northern part of Pima County and portions of Pinal County.
Finchem said he supports a pathway to citizenship for children, but not for parents who broke the law by entering the country illegally. Those who crossed the border illegally should be held responsible for breaking the law, he said.
Finchem said he has family members who are naturalized citizens and followed the law when coming to the United States.
“What about justice for them?” Finchem said.
The ACLU of Arizona is “pleased to see the Supreme Court decided not to pick up the issue at this time,” said Tucson staff attorney Billy Peard.
The ACLU plans to push elected leaders to find a permanent legislative fix for DACA recipients, as well as others who were brought to the country at a young age, Peard said.
For Bruce Ash, a Republican National Committee member for Arizona, the responsibility for dealing with DACA recipients lies with Congress, rather than the courts.
Congress has had many years to find a solution, but “has not done a very good job so far,” Ash said.
Trump said he was willing to sign a DACA bill if it included enhanced border security measures and more interior enforcement, Ash said.
Ash said individuals who came to the United States with their parents and lived “good, American lives” should have the chance to become U.S. citizens.
Congress should not use the fact that DACA recipients now can request renewals “as an excuse to impede the momentum of the fight for Dreamer protections,” Democratic Congressman Raúl Grijalva said in a statement.
“Trump endangered the livelihoods of DACA recipients when he cruelly ended the program in September, and his complicit Republican enablers in Congress compounded this though their repeated obstruction efforts,” Grijalva said.
“In light of this recent decision, we must keep up the pressure and take swift action to pass a permanent legislative solution that protects Dreamers,” said Grijalva, who represents Arizona’s 3rd Congressional District. “Dreamers” refers to DACA recipients.
In a statement, Republican Rep. Martha McSally, who represents Congressional District 2, said, “Regardless of what the Supreme Court decides, we have to secure our borders, fix our broken immigration system, and solve DACA. That’s not optional, and it still is urgent.”
McSally sponsored a bill last month that would allow DACA recipients to receive a three-year renewable status, as long as they are not gang members or have criminal records.
The bill, which includes other immigration and border-related measures, has close to 100 co-sponsors and the support of Trump and the Department of Homeland Security, according to McSally.
Eileen Klein, president of the Arizona Board of Regents, said in a statement that the Supreme Court’s decision “sheds a glimmer of optimism for those students who faced a looming deadline of the program’s possible end by March 5.”
The Board of Regents has consistently called on Congress and Trump to “provide relief for these students within the overall approach to immigration enforcement and reform,” Klein said.
Pima Community College declined to comment. Spokeswoman Libby Howell said the college will wait to see how the case plays out in federal court or whether Congress passes legislation.
