The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a request to review a decision that requires Arizona to provide "Dreamers" with driver’s licenses.
The court will not review a ruling from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that prohibited the state from denying driver’s licenses to Dreamers, the name given to those who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children and protected from the threat of deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The court's decision means the 9th Circuit ruling will remain in place.
The state of Arizona had argued the 9th Circuit erred when it ruled “an executive branch memorandum can preempt state law.”
The case dates back to 2012, when the Obama administration implemented the DACA program, which protects illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children from the threat of deportation and grants them work authorization.
After the program was rolled out, then-Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer attempted to prevent DACA recipients from obtaining driver’s licenses. About 20,000 young illegal immigrants in Arizona receive protections under the DACA program.
A group of DACA recipients challenged the state’s measure, and a federal appeals court sided with them.
President Trump attempted to rescind the Obama-era program as of March 5, but two lower courts have blocked his efforts to do so.
Last month, the Supreme Court rejected a request from the Trump administration to review a ruling from a federal judge in California stopping the administration from rescinding the DACA program. The Justice Department had asked the justices to consider the case before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals could weigh in, which it declined to do.
The federal judge required the Department of Homeland Security to continue processing DACA renewal applications. But the case involving the Trump administration’s rescission is expected to land before the justices again once the federal appeals court rules in the case.
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