DACA Restart Would Delay Immigrant Benefits

The complete restart of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program will mean making Dreamers a priority over legal immigrants and guest workers already waiting, according to the US government. The Trump administration is attempting to head off an order from a federal judge to put back in place the program that began in 2012, via executive action by President Barack Obama.

On Tuesday, US Citizenship and Immigration Services filed court papers saying that completely restarting the program will result in the slowing down of approvals to high-skilled guest workers and loved ones attempting to join family members who already have US citizenship. It also predicted that there would be around 50,000 new applications from the beginning, from those who would have submitted applications in 2017 had the decision to phase the program out not been taken by President Donald Trump.

Many judges had ordered the deferred action program to remain in place for the estimated 700,000 Dreamers who had already been given approval. But, a Washington DC judge recently gave orders for the program to be completely restarted and to begin accepting new applications as well as opening a path to US citizenship.

The government’s new filing says that the considered judgment of the Department of Homeland Security is that the agency’s policies and priorities on immigration enforcement are best achieved by rescinding the deferred action program, and accused the court’s orders of harming defendants and the general public.