The Trump administration announced Tuesday that it will not accept new Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program applications.
The new guidelines, which affect the more than 640,000 Dreamers nationwide and approximately 120 students at the University of Maryland, also limits renewals to one year for current recipients, instead of the two years written into the policy in 2012. The application’s renewal fee of $495 will remain the same, according to a memo from the Department of Homeland Security, despite the increased financial burden this may cause recipients during the coronavirus pandemic.
The program protects undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children from deportation.
[“There’s hope”: How a DACA recipient journeyed to UMD — and is fighting for a better life]
Additionally, advance parole, which allows immigrants to travel outside of the U.S. and return lawfully, will only be granted to current DACA recipients under “exceptional circumstances,” though it is unclear what those circumstances are.
Last month, the Supreme Court shot down the administration’s attempt in 2017 to rescind the program. The ruling, however, left an opening for the administration to try again to provide proper justification for revoking the program.
Following that ruling, a federal court in Maryland ordered the administration to accept new applicants. But the administration defied the order as Chad Wolf, the department’s acting secretary, announced that the department will “thoughtfully consider the future of the DACA policy” and not accept new applicants.
“I have concluded that the DACA policy, at a minimum, presents serious policy concerns that may warrant its full rescission,” Wolf wrote in the memo.
