Following the Supreme Court’s decision that he unlawfully ended the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, impeached president Donald Trump didn’t then reopen it to the hundreds of thousands of new applicants he’s blocked since trying to end it. Instead he claimed the decision “gave the president of the United States powers that nobody thought the president had” to act on things like health care, voting, and immigration. I’ll begin with this: what the fuck is he talking about?
“The source of Trump’s recent bravado” links to Bush era official John “Torture Memos” Yoo, who apparently in some writings “contends [the DACA decision] allows presidents to take even unlawful actions that can require years of legal battles to undo,”The Washington Post reports. Um ... okay? Look, I’m not a constitutional scholar here, so let’s turn to Laurence Tribe, who actually is one at Harvard University, and told The Post what he thinks about Yoo’s theory: “I think he must be on some kind of drug.”
Meanwhile, University of Michigan constitutional law professor Leah Litman told The Post that “Yoo’s argument is based on a misunderstanding of the DACA policy, and an even worse misunderstanding of the Supreme Court’s decision in the DACA case. Neither would stand up in court under any kind of scrutiny.” But since when has that stopped Trump from lawlessness left and right?
“That the administration plans to use John Yoo’s tortured (yes that’s intentional) arguments is a pretty good indication of why this administration frequently loses in court on administrative law,” Litman continued to The Post.
Loses, and then refuses to accept that loss. The administration made its defiance of court orders to fully reopen DACA official, and last week announced that it would not only “reject all” new applications, but also slash protections for current and former beneficiaries from two years, to just one year. “Extremely import thing to note about this” memo, noted Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy counsel at American Immigration Council: “It is signed by Chad Wolf, who is likely not the valid lawful Acting Secretary, making this almost certainly unlawful.”
Meanwhile, as the administration acts with defiant lawlessness while looking to the words of torture architects, young people who rightfully won a victory in the highest court of the land are being denied their justice, and their chance to live their lives.
"It's such an uncertainty, not to be able to plan my life," Adonias Arevalo told NBC News. He said he just renewed his $495 permit, but “is afraid this benefit will be reduced,” the report said. Alberto Gutiérrez, another young immigrant, is being blocked by the administration from his chance to apply even though he’s eligible. "Now I won't have a social security number to be able to secure employment," he said according to the report.