Dean Johnson Comments on DACA Injunction for KQED, KXTV

Dean Kevin R. Johnson commented for Bay Area public radio station KQED and Sacramento television station KXTV (ABC-10) on a federal judge’s decision to issue an injunction blocking the Trump administration’s plans to phase out the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The Obama administration initiative provided work permits and protection from deportation for certain undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children. On January 9, U.S. District Judge William Alsup issued an order stating that the safeguards against deportation and permits must remain in place while a legal challenge to the DACA rescission proceeds.

“The decision to rescind DACA was based on a claim that was made frequently by President Trump that DACA was an unlawful usurpation of congressional power,” said Dean Johnson in a KQED interview. “According to the court, there is no authority supporting that. It is merely the word of the attorney general, the word of the president. There is no law relied on by the Trump administration showing that DACA was illegal and had to be rescinded.”

Dean Johnson explained the court order means that individuals who are currently receiving protection from deportation and work orders under DACA will retain them, unless the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit or the Supreme Court stays the order.

"I do think this is a case the Supreme Court is likely to end up reviewing," Johnson told KXTV. "The case is far from over."

Kevin R. Johnson is Dean and Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law and Chicana/o studies at UC Davis School of Law. He is an internationally recognized scholar in the fields of immigration law and policy, refugee law, and civil rights.