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DACA: An Update for Nurses

  • Publish Date: Posted over 4 years ago
  • Author:by Kate Andrews

September 2019 was another busy time in the headlines for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The big news came on the 26th when the University of California filed a brief in United States Supreme Court in San Francisco to challenge President Trump’s decision to rescind the DACA. 

This filing follows a suit in 2017 by the University’s President Janet Napolitano against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security after Trump’s repeal of the DACA program. The Trump administration announced it planned to phase out DACA, claiming it had been created “without proper statutory authority.” The University filing alleged that such a repeal violated students’ rights. U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup granted an injunction in January 2018 that required the DHS to continue processing DACA renewal applications as the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reviewed the case. 

The legality of the DACA program is not at issue in the current filing, but rather how the government chose to wind it down. Lawyer Theodore B. Olson said the government failed to “consider the costs of its decisions, including loss of work authorization for 700,000 DACA recipients.” 

The Supreme Court will hear arguments on the latest filing on November 12. As things stand, lower courts have issued two nationwide injunctions forcing the government to continue to allow renewals in the program. A decision siding with the administration could strip protections for nearly 700,000 DACA recipients in a case that will undoubtedly dominate media headlines in the run-up to the 2020 election. 

Speaking of the election, Senator Bernie Sanders made his thoughts on DACA clear in an interview this month. He said: “On day one, we will restore legal status to 1.8 million young people in the DACA program.” 

Conexus works with nursing students under DACA, helping them to secure their future career as an RN in the US. Our team continues to visit university and college campuses’ across the US, including recent visits to Arizona and California, to meet with DACA students. Stay tuned to our blog and Facebook page for the latest news on our university partnerships, events, and initiatives for DACA recipients.