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Immigration advocates hail DACA decision as a ‘major victory’

The ruling, which can be appealed, instructs the federal government to post a public notice saying they will accept new DACA applicants on Monday.

News 12 Staff

Dec 6, 2020, 3:06 AM

Updated 1,466 days ago

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A landmark decision by a Brooklyn federal court made it possible once again for new applicants to apply for DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis ruled Friday that the Trump administration has to fully restore the program, which allows immigrants who came to the U.S. as children to request to defer deportation for a period of two years.
Johana Larios, a Mexican immigrant and mother living in New York City since she was a toddler, tried apply for the program two days before the Trump administration suspended it.
"I just couldn’t believe it,” she told News 12. “I was just starting my life over with my son. So it was really difficult for me."
In June, the Supreme Court blocked the attempted suspension. But Chad Wolf, the acting Homeland Security secretary, then issued a memo which restricted the program rather than abolishing it. Shortening the deferral period to one year instead of two.
That happened just before Larios tried applying again.
"I had already submitted my application, everything was set, and then I get the news that my application wasn’t going to be processed," she said.
On Friday, the court found Wolf was not legally serving as Homeland Security secretary when he wrote the memo restricting DACA – a move that canceled the memo as a result.
Make the Road New York called it a “huge victory.”
The ruling, which can be appealed, instructs the federal government to post a public notice saying they will accept new DACA applicants on Monday.
News 12 reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for a comment.