Attorney General Becerra Defends Dreamers in DACA Hearing Before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

Becerra: Decision to rescind DACA is unlawful and subject to judicial review 

SACRAMENTO – The California Department of Justice today continued to defend Dreamers before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in the case Regents of the University of California, et al., v. United States Department of Homeland Security, et al. Today, California sought to uphold its nationwide injunction, initially secured in January, in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) lawsuit.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s legal team argued that the January decision by Judge Alsup of the District Court for the Northern District of California, which keeps DACA in place for current recipients through a nationwide preliminary injunction, was correct and should stand.

“Today, we continued defending our position that DACA is fully legal and that the Trump Administration’s decision to rescind it was unlawful,” said Attorney General Becerra. “Dreamers who would have lost DACA status are our teachers, students, colleagues and neighbors. DACA has made our nation a better place to live and work, and California was proud to secure a nationwide injunction earlier this year to protect Dreamers and the communities they enrich. We will do whatever it takes to help our Dreamers and ensure that the rescission of DACA does not stand.”

As part of our defense of the preliminary injunction, Attorney General Becerra’s legal team argued the following main points:

• The federal government’s decision to rescind DACA - profoundly harming roughly 700,000 people, their families, and their communities - was unlawful.
• The nationwide preliminary injunction that California and its co-plaintiffs obtained is proper and should be kept in place.
• The decision to rescind DACA is reviewable by the courts. 

In January, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra obtained the first nationwide injunction against the Trump Administration, halting its decision to end DACA. Other plaintiffs in the case led by Attorney General Becerra include the Attorneys General for Maine, Maryland and Minnesota, as well as the University of California, individual Dreamers and others. As a result of the preliminary injunction, on January 13, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services resumed accepting requests to renew deferred action under DACA. At least 30,000 Dreamers whose status had expired have regained DACA protection and the program remains in place for all DACA recipients as a result of the court injunction.

In February, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the federal government’s unusual and unnecessary request to bypass the Appeals Court review of California’s DACA lawsuit and sent the case back to Ninth Circuit court for review.

To view the video of the oral arguments, visit: https://www.c-span.org/video/?445195-1/ninth-circuit-hears-oral-argument-daca-case&vod.