DAPA/DACA

DACA VICTORY: NEW DREAMERS CAN NOW APPLY FOR DEFERRED ACTION

Federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis of the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York officially ordered the Trump administration to restart DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). Indeed, he ordered the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to post a public notice by today, December 7, 2020, to accept first-time applications and ensure that work permits are valid for two years.  He also ordered DHS to process renewals and advance parole requests based on Obama-era…

Read MorePosted on

EXCITING NEWS ABOUT DACA: FEDERAL JUDGE RULES DACA SUSPENSION INVALID

On Saturday, November 14, 2020, U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis of New York ruled that because the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Chad Wolf, assumed his position unlawfully, his suspension of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, was consequently invalid. In Judge Garaufis’s ruling, he wrote that the DHS failed to follow the appropriate mandated order of succession when then-secretary Kirstjen Nielsen resigned in April 2019. The legal battle, partisanship,…

Read MorePosted on

U.S. SUPREME COURT DECIDES TO CONTINUE DACA

The United States Supreme Court has decided that Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, otherwise known as DACA, will continue. DACA was an executive order President Obama put forth in 2012 to give temporary legal status and provide protection from deportation to many undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children. There are currently around 700,000 DACA recipients. The program provides work permits and allows drivers licenses to people who qualify. It does not provide…

Read MorePosted on

SUPREME COURT HEARS DACA CASE TODAY

At 10 AM this morning the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the DACA case, as the fate of some 700,000 “DREAMers” stands in the balance. The case relates to the Trump administration‘s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program which was initially set forth via executive order by President Obama in 2012. The program has allowed individuals, brought to the United States as children, to apply for temporary status…

Read MorePosted on

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES PASS THE “AMERICAN DREAM AND PROMISE ACT OF 2019”

The House of Representatives passed the "American Dream and Promise Act of 2019," last night. The act, which had a unanimous affirmative vote by every single Democrat in the House, offers a path to Citizenship for individuals who were brought to the United States as children, known as DREAMers. This legislation, which impacts approximately 2.5 million immigrants whose legal protections President Trump has strategically moved to upend, via the termination of the DACA (Deferred Action for…

Read MorePosted on

First Dreamer Admitted To New Jersey Law Bar

Last week, New Jersey welcomed its first DACA recipient to the New Jersey Law Bar.  Parthiv Patel, a 27-year-old immigrant from India who came to New Jersey when he was five years old, became the first “DREAMer to join the cadre of lawyers in the State, sworn in by State Attorney General Grewal.  Patel, who graduated from Drexel University’s Thomas R. Kline School of Law  in 2016 and subsequently passed both the New Jersey and Pennsylvania…

Read MorePosted on

Governor Murphy To Join DACA Lawsuit

Phil Murphy, New Jersey's new Democratic Governor, announced that New Jersey intends to join a multi-state lawsuit challenging President Trump’s decision to terminate the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program for DREAMers.  This is a noteworthy and critically important policy shift in that Murphy's Republican predecessor, Governor Christie, had joined with other GOP governors in a lawsuit that sought to have the DACA program declared void back in 2015. The lawsuit that Murphy intends to join,…

Read MorePosted on

Federal Court Orders Dhs To Maintain DACA Program

Following the Trump Administration's announcement that they would terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program set forth by President Obama via Executive Order, the University of California filed a formal legal complaint challenging the rescission of the DACA program.  A fortuitous outcome came on January 9, 2018 when Federal Judge William Alsup, in his 49-page ruling, issued an order directing the government to partially maintain the DACA program on a nationwide basis. Calling Trump's…

Read MorePosted on

Possible Daca Replacement Bills

Following the Trump Administration's decision to terminate the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program effective March 6, 2018, there are four possible DACA replacement bills that are currently being considered by Congress: the BRIDGE Act, the RAC Act, the SUCCEED Act, and the DREAM Act.  The expediency of the decision-making process of Congress will be critical to the lives of an estimated 700,000 dreamers who are living and working legally in the United States under…

Read MorePosted on

Celebrity Actor Gives Voice To DACA Struggle

Bambadjan Bamba, an actor and filmmaker best known for his roles on the "Sopranos," "Suicide Squad," and "Grey's Anatomy," in addition to his recurring role on the NBC sitcom “The Good Place and for his upcoming role in Marvel's "Black Panther" movie, made a decision to formally reveal his immigration status this week.  The reasons for his decision to go "public" are apparently threefold in nature: 1) it stems from a personal place of fear about…

Read MorePosted on