On December 4th, a U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York ordered the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to fully reinstate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, effective immediately.
The court found that DHS Acting Secretary Wolf’s, July 28th memorandum, must be set aside. This memo authorized DHS to reject all pending and future initial requests for DACA; reject all pending and future applications for advance parole absent exceptional circumstances; and shorten the period of renewed deferred action granted pursuant to the DACA policy after the issuance of the memorandum to one year.
The court also ordered DHS to post a public notice stating that new, initial DACA applications will be accepted. According to the court order, work permits are valid for two years and DACA recipients are eligible to apply for Advanced Parole.