Termination of DACA

On September 5, 2017, Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III announced the President's plan to terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals ("DACA") program. Originally introduced in 2012, DACA provided relief from deportation and the ability to apply for work authorization for as many as 800,000 individuals who arrived in the U.S. before 2007, were children (under age 16) at the time they arrived, were 30 years or younger when the policy was enacted in 2012, and did not have criminal records. The President's order terminating DACA stated that, effective immediately, USCIS would no longer accept initial requests for DACA and would no longer approve advance parole (travel authorization) requests associated with DACA. The President directed USCIS to only accept DACA renewal requests and EAD requests until October 5, 2017, and only for individuals whose DACA benefits expire on or before March 5, 2018.

Accordingly, DACA beneficiaries with upcoming expirations have been scrambling to file their extension requests, a process that has been particularly onerous for DACA recipients in Florida and Texas impacted by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Although the Dream Act legislation has been introduced to protect these DACA recipients on a more permanent basis, to date Congress has not brought these bills up for debate or vote. We will continue to bring updates on DACA and any Dream Act legislation in our newsletters.