DACA Supreme Court Summary and Practice Update

DACA Supreme Court Summary and Practice Update

Last updated DECEMBER 22, 2020


National Immigration Law Center and Immigrant Legal Resource Center


On November 14, 2020, a U.S. district court found that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) memorandum issued in July 2020 limiting the DACA program was invalid. The invalidated DHS memorandum, known as the “Wolf Memo,” had instructed U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to reject all first-time DACA applications, to reject applications for advance parole from DACA recipients unless they could show an exceptional circumstance, and to continue processing DACA renewal applicants, but limited the grant period and work authorization to only one year.

In this practice update, we provide background on the Wolf Memo and the order issued by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York on December 4, 2020, vacating the Wolf Memo, what this means moving forward, what advocates can do now, and other takeaways from this decision.

Advocates and DACA-eligible individuals can find updates regarding the litigation described above by visiting dacaclassaction.org.

This summary and practice update covers the following topics:

  • Background
  • What did the U.S. Supreme Court decide?
  • What did DHS’s July 28, 2020, Wolf Memo say?
  • What do the latest U.S. district court orders do?
  • What can advocates do?
  • Takeaways

To download the summary and practice update, CLICK HERE.
(The above link takes you to the Immigrant Legal Resource Center’s website.)