On Tuesday, Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf issued a memo to announce plans to further limit the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. As outlined in the memo, the Trump Administration will continue to reject new requests and will limit renewals to less than one-year terms.
Officials within the administration have said the DACA limitations will be in place until the administration can complete a thorough review of the legality of the program. In the memo, Wolf said the administration’s new limits to DACA may help to “discourage illegal immigration involving children going forward.”
Since 2017, when the administration announced its plans to rescind DACA, USCIS has continued to process two-year renewals for current DACA recipients and applications for immigrants who previously held DACA. The annual renewals cost applicants more time and money for filing.
In June, the Supreme Court justices voted 5-4 against the administration’s plan to end the program entirely. Chief Justice John Roberts said the Trump administration’s efforts to end the DACA program were “arbitrary and capricious.”
Earlier this month, a Maryland federal judge ordered the administration to fully resume the DACA program in accordance with the Supreme Court’s ruling.