Source: Politico
In the next few weeks, the Supreme Court will be deciding whether the President has the authority to end the DACA program that protects immigrants who came to the country illegally as children (also known as Dreamers). The DACA program gives Dreamers a chance to go to college, work, support their families, and temporarily provides them with relief from deportation. DACA does not provide a path to lawful permanent resident status (green card) or citizenship and DACA recipients must renew every two years. As of December 31, 2019, about 649,000 active DACA recipients lived in the U.S. Most DACA recipients have lived in the U.S. for most of their lives, with little memory of ever living in another country. See more info on DACA here.
Although politicians and activists are prepared for the Supreme Court to decide that the President does have authority to end the DACA program, it is expected that President Trump will not end the program right away. Instead, it is predicted that Trump will “slowly wind down the program and use that as leverage to try and strike a broader immigration deal with Democrats this summer.” Lawmakers are currently focused on responding to the coronavirus pandemic and issues of racial inequality evident in our political system. However, “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said last week that she would not be willing to accept certain immigration policies just to strike a DACA deal with Trump.”