Supreme Court on DACA and DAPA

President Obama is facing the very real possibility of a deadlock at the Supreme Court. If that happens, his immigration actions won’t take effect before he leaves office. Supreme Court Justice Scalia died recently, leaving only eight justices on the Supreme Court instead of the usual nine. A new judge will not be added to the court during the next two months. If the justices split 4-4 on the DACA/DAPA case, the president’s executive actions case would be sent back to the lower courts for another long legal battle that would continue until after Mr. Obama leaves the White House.

DACA is the abbreviation for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, and DAPA stands for Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents.

Supporters of Mr. Obama are hoping that the court will decide that the states do not have the right to sue over the immigration actions. In that case, the Supreme Court would dismiss the law suit by the 26 states, and the long-delayed immigration executive actions could move forward.

Texas and the 25 other states that are challenging Obama’s actions say that the DAPA program will cost them millions of dollars by allowing undocumented parents of American citizens and legal permanent residents to stay in the country.

The main points in the suit are (a) do the executive actions result in a change in the immigration law? and (b) does the president have the right to change the law?

On April 18, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments for the DAPA case. Texas and 25 other states say that Mr. Obama’s executive actions for the DACA and DAPA program are not legal because the actions are outside the boundary of presidential power.

The executive actions of Mr. Obama could mean that 5 million illegal immigrants would be allowed to remain in the US for at least 3 years and could receive work permits and could qualify for certain tax payer benefits. The Supreme Court expects to reach a decision on the DACA and DAPA case by June.

If the Court agrees with Mr. Obama, it would be a great relief to certain immigrants, mainly parents of US citizens and young people who were brought to the U.S. before the age of 16. Mr. Obama issued the executive orders in 2014 after years of no action by Congress.

The original DACA from 2012 is still in effect, but the expanded DACA, and the DAPA (for parents of American citizens), is on hold until the Supreme Court makes a decision. If the Court agrees with the executive actions, it will take six to twelve months for the DAPA and new DACA to become effective.

By the end of last year, nearly 715,000 people had been approved for the DACA program and less than 55,000 had been rejected. The original two year period of DACA has expired for hundreds of thousands of immigrants and they had to apply for renewals. The renewal rate is 99.3 percent, according to the latest Homeland Security statistics.

The 26 states that are suing the Obama administration will have much to lose if they win the case. According to a report from the Center for American Progress, if the Supreme Court rules against DAPA and DACA, the 26 states that are opposed to executive actions will lose a combined $91.9 billion in GDP over the next ten years. GDP means a state’s total economic activity, including the value of all goods and services produced. In addition, the state and local governments in these 26 states will miss out on $272 million in annual tax revenue.

Aside from the economic consequences, the immigrants' biggest worry is the potential for the forced separation of millions of family members. One study says that 2.6 million U.S. citizens live with a DAPA-eligible family member in the 26 states. This means that without DAPA, millions of fathers, mothers, daughters, sisters, brothers, and sons could be torn away from their families.
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43 Senators Tell the Court that Obama had no legal right to issue his Executive Actions
On April 4th, the senators told the U.S. Supreme Court that millions of illegal aliens should not be permitted to remain in this country, or work in this country, or receive government benefits, but the President decided to provide such benefits anyway.

The Texas attorney general summarized the case against the administration. He said that DAPA will grant ‘lawful presence’ and eligibility for work permits to over four million aliens who are present in this country unlawfully. This means that DAPA applicants would be eligible for Medicare, Social Security, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and unemployment insurance.
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In election-related news, Canadian provinces prepare for arrival of Americans after US election: Canadians might want to prepare to welcome millions of fleeing Americans if Donald Trump wins the presidency. A survey conducted by Vox.com of 2,000 registered voters showed 28 percent claimed they would probably consider moving to another country, such as Canada, if Trump wins.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there are always some Americans wanting to move to Canada after every U.S.election. It happened when George W. Bush was elected in 2004, with 34,000 Americans immigrating to Canada from 2004 to 2014.

Recently, there has been a notable increase in the number of people searching Google for “how to move to Canada”. An Ontario tech company by the name of Sortable has been running Facebook ads featuring a photo of Trump with the caption: “Thinking of moving to Canada? Sortable is hiring.”

There would be an economic benefit for Americans who receive a US income while living in Canada. Canada's lower-valued dollar is now at now at 76 cents to the U.S. dollar. However, bear in mind that Americans who give up their US citizenship in order to take Canadian citizenship would no longer have unlimited right to return to the US or live in the US.

With regard to Mr. Trump and his ideas about immigration, we should keep in mind that the original DACA, the new DACA and the DAPA, are all executive actions. This means that if Mr. Trump is elected president, he can cancel these programs at any time.
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US CIS reminds immigrants: Immigrants all over the country are being targeted for phone scams. Don’t be one of the victims.

Scammers pretend to be a government official and call immigrants saying there is a problem with their immigration record. Sometimes they know personal information about the immigrant. They ask for personal and sensitive details, and demand immediate payment to fix the problem. They get angry and threaten people with deportation if payment is not made immediately with electronic money transfers.

Sometimes, scammers use special software to make it look like the CIS 800 number is calling. Other times they leave a message to call a number that sounds exactly like the CIS 800 number.

Remember, USCIS officials rarely call customers on the phone, and US CIS WILL NEVER ASK FOR PAYMENT OVER THE PHONE. If CIS needs payment, they will send a letter on official stationery requesting payment.
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Q.1. What is the difference between the original DACA and the executive action expanded DACA?
A.2. Both the old and new DACA are for applicants who entered the US illegally before the age of 16. The original DACA of 2012 said a person must be under the age of 31 to apply for DACA. The new DACA says there is no age limit for eligibility as long as the applicant arrived in the US before the 16th birthday.
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Q.2. Why can’t DAPA applicants be sponsored by their American citizen children?
A.2. These parents of US citizens have usually been in the US illegally for some time, so in addition to filing an I-130 visa petition for them, the US citizen children would also need to request a waiver of unlawful presence. This is difficult to get approved because it requires evidence of extreme hardship to the citizen child if the parent could not be approved.
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Q.3. What would Americans gain by moving to Canada?
A.3. In general, there would only be a psychological gain by moving to Canada. They would just feel better about not living in the US if Donald Trump became president. If people move to Canada, but keep US citizenship, they would still have to pay US taxes, and they would not be able to utilize US Medicare in Canada. To be eligible for Canadian citizenship, they would have to live in Canada full time for 4 years.