Trump scraps Obama policy that protected illegal alien parents from deportation

The administration’s announcement ending the so-called “DAPA” amnesty quietly cuts the legal legs off the still-operating “DACA” amnesty for younger illegals, despite left-wing claims that President Donald Trump has accepted former President Barack Obama’s DACA quasi-amnesty.

Amid the left-wing cheering, officials denied that Trump had accepted the DACA amnesty.

The “DAPA and DACA [amnesties] are two different programs … The fact that DACA was not rescinded by the same memo should not be interpreted as bearing any relevance on the long-term future of that program,” said a memo issued Friday by the Department of Homeland Security. “The future of the DACA program continues to be under review with the Administration.”

For several months, administration officials, led by President Donald Trump, have suggested the DACA program will continue for some time...

In his June 15 statement announcing the end of DAPA, Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly highlighted the lethal legal flaw in DACA when he said DAPA was indefensible in court and noted “I remind our officers that (1) deferred action, as an act of prosecutorial discretion, may only be granted on a case-by-case basis.”...

Both the DACA and DAPA amnesties are based on the unprecedented claim by President Barack Obama that agency officials have the authority to stop enforcing Congress’ laws against entire categories of people, providing the benefits were reviewed and granted on a case-by-case basis...

But judges in the DAPA case noted there is little or no case-by-case review of amnesty awards to the beneficiaries in the DACA amnesty...

Thursday’s decision to rescind former President Barack Obama’s quasi-amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants short-circuits litigation that could have prevented a future administration from resurrecting it.

Obama created the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA) program in 2014, but it never took effect because a federal judge in Texas blocked it, ruling that 26 states that sued were likely ultimately to win in court. The Supreme Court split 4-4 on the question last year, leaving the preliminary injunction in place while the litigants battled it out on the merits.

The decision to revoke Obama's executive order will end that case. While some immigration hawks cheered the move, others said it opens the door for a future administration to bring it back — perhaps with a Supreme Court more favorably disposed to allowing it.