国土安全部周三采取措施编纂奥巴马时代的法律童年抵美计划延期行动监管政策——尽管一个法庭案件可能会颠覆在年幼时被非法带入美国的移民留在美国的能力。
自美国总统巴拉克奥巴马(Barack Obama)于2012年推出该政策以来，DHS估计，已有超过82.5万移民在DACA登记，该政策暂时保护他们免于被驱逐，并允许他们获得工作授权。
DHS的最终规则是在接受公众评论后于周三发布的，这是一项技术举措，旨在根据行政法而不是通过总统的自由裁量权吸收DACA。
该规定在很大程度上保留了时任国土安全部部长珍妮特·纳波利塔诺在2012年的一份备忘录中概述的资格标准，包括申请人必须在16岁之前抵达美国，并且必须在2012年6月15日之前在美国连续居住至少五年。
国土安全部部长亚历杭德罗·马约卡斯(Alejandro Mayorkas)周三在一份声明中表示，“我们正在采取另一项措施，尽一切努力保护和巩固DACA，这是一个改变了如此多梦想者生活的非凡项目。”。
“多亏了DACA，那些为我们的社区和国家做出巨大贡献的年轻人丰富了我们的生活。然而，我们需要国会通过立法，为年轻的梦想家提供一个持久的解决方案，这些梦想家除了美国之外不知道自己的国家，”Mayorkas说，他用一个常见的昵称指代该项目中的人。
自成立以来，DACA面临多重法律挑战那些说奥巴马越权的人。美国第五巡回上诉法院正在审理的一个案件寻求法院裁定该项目非法并终止该项目。那里可能随时会有决定。
尽管DHS周三提交了监管文件，但由于得克萨斯州联邦法院2021年7月的一项决定，DACA仍然对新申请人关闭。根据DHS的说法，只有那些已经拥有DACA身份的人才能在新的框架下申请续签。
司法部的最终规定要到10月31日才会生效，目前还不清楚周三的举措会对当前的任何诉讼产生什么影响。
“拜登总统在竞选中提出要加强和巩固DACA。“这一最终的DACA规则未能加强该项目，因为它没有将今年高中毕业的大多数无证移民青年包括在内，而且由于武断的截止日期，他们没有资格参加该项目，”团结我们梦想组织的联邦宣传副主任朱莉安娜·马塞多·多纳西门托在一份声明中说，部分内容如下。
马塞多·多·纳西门托说:“这项规定并没有让我们更接近于看到对DACA获奖者和移民青年的真正保护。”
DHS规则将保留申请延期诉讼的原始程序——保护年轻移民免受驱逐——以及工作许可证，尽管该部在早期的提案中建议，它将让潜在的申请人分别申请许可证和驱逐保护。
移民倡导者警告说，如果未来的政府希望让DACA人没有资格工作，那么将这两种福利脱钩将使人们容易失去工作授权，同时保持推迟驱逐。
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas speaks during a news conference in Washington, Sept. 9, 2021.
德鲁·安格雷尔/盖蒂图片社，档案
DHS估计，截至2020年，DACA受益人及其家庭每年支付约56亿美元的联邦税，以及31亿美元的州税和地方税。DHS说，该项目中的许多人已经获得了专业证书、高等学校学位，大约56，000人已经成为房主。
最终规则公布后，拜登周三发表声明，重申他对“梦想家”的支持，他说他们是“这个国家结构的一部分”。
“他们站在应对疫情疫情的第一线。他们是学生、企业家和小企业主。许多人在我们的军队中英勇服役。他们只知道美国是他们的家，”拜登说。
尽管总统没有提到DACA正在面临的法律挑战，但他呼吁共和党人支持获得公民身份的途径充满政治色彩的过程这导致共和党分裂，多年来，联邦立法一再失败。
“这不仅是正确的事情，”拜登谈到国会的行动时说，“也是对我们的经济和我们的社区明智的事情。”
DHS takes step to 'preserve' DACA for young migrants amid looming legal challenge
The Department of Homeland Security took steps on Wednesday to codify the Obama-eraDeferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programinto regulatory policy -- even as a court case threatens to upend the ability of migrants who were brought illegally into the U.S. as young children to remain in the country.
Since President Barack Obama launched the policy in 2012, the DHS estimates that more than 825,000 immigrants have been enrolled in DACA, which temporarily protects them from deportation and allows them to obtain work authorization.
The DHS' final rule, issued Wednesday after being subject to public comment, is a technical move that seeks to absorb DACA under administrative law rather than through presidential discretion.
The rule largely preserves the eligibility criteria outlined in a 2012 memo by then-Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, including the requirement that applicants must have arrived in the U.S. before the age of 16 and must have continuously resided in the country for at least five years before June 15, 2012.
“We are taking another step to do everything in our power to preserve and fortify DACA, an extraordinary program that has transformed the lives of so many Dreamers,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement on Wednesday.
"Thanks to DACA, we have been enriched by young people who contribute so much to our communities and our country. Yet, we need Congress to pass legislation that provides an enduring solution for the young Dreamers who have known no country other than the United States as their own," Mayorkas said, referring to the people in the program by a common nickname.
Since its inception, DACAhas faced multiple legal challengesfrom those who say Obama overreached his authority. An ongoing case in the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals seeks to have the court rule the program unlawful and end it. A decision there may come any day.
Despite Wednesday's regulatory filing by DHS, DACA remains closed to new applicants as a result of a July 2021 decision from a federal court in Texas. Only those who already have DACA status can apply to renew it under the new framework, according to DHS.
The department's final rule would not go into effect until Oct. 31 and it was unclear how Wednesday's move would impact any current litigation.
"President [Joe] Biden campaigned on strengthening and fortifying DACA. This final DACA rule fails to strengthen the program by not expanding it to include the majority of undocumented immigrant youth who are graduating from high school this year and not eligible for the program because of arbitrary cut-off dates," Juliana Macedo do Nascimento, deputy director of federal advocacy for the group United We Dream, said in a statement, in part.
“This rule does not bring us any closer to seeing true protection for DACA recipients and immigrant youth," Macedo do Nascimento said.
The DHS rule will preserve the original process for applying for a renewal of deferred action -- shielding young migrants from deportation -- and a work permit despite the department suggesting in an earlier proposal that it would have potential applicants apply for a permit and for deportation protection separately.
Immigration advocates had warned that decoupling the two benefits would leave people susceptible to losing work authorization while maintaining deferred deportation if a future administration wished to make DACA recipients ineligible to work.
DHS estimates that as of 2020, DACA recipients and their households pay around $5.6 billion in annual federal taxes and$3.1 billion in annual state and local taxes. Many people in the program have gone on to acquire professional certificates, advanced school degrees and about 56,000 have become homeowners, DHS said.
After the final rule was published, Biden issued a statement on Wednesday reaffirming his support for the "Dreamers," whom he said were "part of the fabric of this nation."
"They serve on the frontlines of the pandemic response. They are students, entrepreneurs, and small business owners. Many serve bravely in our military. They've only ever known America as their home," Biden said.
Although the president made no mention of the ongoing legal challenges to DACA, he called on Republicans to support a pathway to citizenship --a politically fraught processthat has divided the GOP and repeatedly failed, over the years, to result in federal legislation.
"It is not only the right thing to do," Biden argued of congressional action, "it is also the smart thing to do for our economy and our communities."
