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Federal District Judge Nicholas Garaufis on Friday mandated the Trump administration fully reestablish the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allows 700,000 undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. at a young age to live and work in the country. Because acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf was unlawfully appointed, he did not actually have the power to end DACA. Garaufis ordered DHS to “post a public notice … that it is accepting first-time requests for consideration of deferred action under DACA.” The Trump administration has been trying to end DACA since 2017, but President-elect Joe Biden has promised to restore it. Vox
In other national immigration news…
Inside ICE’s Fake University
The University of Farmington provided international students who were done with their studies at other schools with documents needed to claim their student visas but didn’t actually offer classes. It was what’s known as a visa mill, and it turned out to be the creation of ICE’s secretive investigative wing, Homeland Security Investigations. Among those who “attended” Farmington was Ramesh, who was there for 17 months. He was obligated to recruit a certain number of students in order to get his tuition bill wiped out and receive documentation to remain in the U.S. In January 2019, Ramesh and seven other recruiters were arrested in Michigan. The Guardian
Government Attempting to Expedite Deportation of Children
Unaccompanied minors from Central America are being placed in expedited removal proceedings in immigration court, according to the Houston Chronicle. Kids In Needs of Defense, a nonprofit that represents children in immigration court, said 58 clients around the country recently received expedited orders to deliver documentation about trauma and hardship they had faced in their home countries. Catholic Legal Immigration Network said it had documented 200 cases of unaccompanied children and adults in 24 states who had received notices to act swiftly or face possible deportation. The requests are described in a Justice Department memo as the “Enhanced Case Flow Processing in Removal Proceedings.” Houston Chronicle
Trump Immigration Policy Leads Families to Go Hungry
Undocumented immigrant parents are avoiding federal welfare programs like food stamps and going to private food pantries instead, even if they have citizen children that qualify for federal assistance, because of President Trump’s public charge rule. The Urban Institute surveyed 949 members of immigrant households in 2019 and found more than 20 percent of immigrant adults avoided accessing public benefits because they feared jeopardizing their chances of accessing green cards. About 260,000 children throughout the nation were removed from nutrition and health care programs by their parents after the rule was announced, according to nonprofit research group Ideas42. The New York Times
ICE Demanding Access to BuzzFeed News’ Sources
ICE investigators issued a subpoena on Dec. 1 demanding BuzzFeed News to reveal its anonymous sources. The subpoena urges that BuzzFeed News “provide all documentation including, but not limited to: date of receipt, method of receipt, source of document and contract information for the source of the document.” DHS officials specifically informed their employees to not discuss internal policies or documents with media outlets. BuzzFeed News Editor-in-Chief Mark Schoofs ensured that the outlet does not discuss confidential sources and said the subpoena is “fundamentally at odds with the U.S. Constitution and will not have any impact on our journalism.” BuzzFeed News
