FAIR: Supreme Court Ruling on DACA is a Setback for the Rule of Law and the Constitutional Separation of Powers
(June 18, 2020, Washington, D.C.) —The following statement was issued by Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), in response to today’s outrageous Supreme Court ruling blocking President Trump’s rescission of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program:
“Today’s ruling by the Supreme Court denying President Trump’s rescission of DACA, a program that was implemented by nothing more than a policy memo issued by his predecessor, is an enormous setback for efforts to enforce U.S. immigration laws, as well as for the Constitution’s Separation of Powers doctrine.
“In implementing DACA in 2012, President Obama essentially bypassed Congress’ unambiguous authority to make immigration laws. The duly enacted laws of our nation, then and now, are clear that DACA beneficiaries are illegal aliens who have no legal right to live and work in this country, and are subject to removal. Those laws cannot be changed or ignored by an executive policy memo.
“Equally disturbing, the Court essentially imputed the weight of law to an executive policy memo by preventing the current president from reversing that policy and substituting his own policy in its place – one that actually conforms with existing statutes. If presidents can overrule laws with policy memos that are hard to reverse, we are on a slippery slope toward the sort of unchecked executive power our founders feared.
“On a practical level, today’s ruling will likely lead to future waves of illegal immigration, as people around the world see the opportunity to bring minor children to the United States illegally in the expectation that they will be granted permission to remain permanently.”
Contact: Matthew Tragesser, 202-328-7004 or [email protected]