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Trump says he will renew effort to end DACA protections

President Donald Trump speaks about the PREVENTS "President's Roadmap to Empower Veterans and End a National Tragedy of Suicide," task force, in the East Room of the White House, Wednesday, June 17, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

PHOENIX (AP) — President Donald Trump said Friday he will renew his effort to end legal protections for hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the United States as children.

Trump denounced a Supreme Court
ruling that the administration improperly ended the Deferred Action for
Childhood Arrivals program in 2017. Splitting with Trump and judicial
conservatives, Chief Justice John Roberts joined the four liberal
justices in the 5-4 vote Thursday.

Through
executive action, Trump could still take away the ability of 650,000
young immigrants to live and work legally in the U.S. And with no
legislative answer in sight in Congress, uncertainty continues for many
immigrants who know no other home except America.

In a tweet
Friday, Trump said, “The Supreme Court asked us to resubmit on DACA,
nothing was lost or won. They ‘punted,’ much like in a football game
(where hopefully they would stand for our great American Flag). We will
be submitting enhanced papers shortly.”

Many believe Trump could
modify the rescinding of DACA in the same way he changed a travel ban on
mostly Muslim countries. The ban was upheld by the Supreme Court after
two revisions in over a year, including adding North Koreans and some
Venezuelan officials to the ban.

In a 5-4 opinion with a stark
rebuke from liberal justices, the high court found that Trump was well
within a president’s considerable authority over immigration and the
responsibility for keeping the nation safe.

Groups that support DACA said they will remain on guard against further action by Trump.

“What’s
important to note: NOTHING has changed since yesterday and won’t change
unless SCOTUS decides otherwise,” the immigration legal services
provider and advocacy group RAICES, based in Texas, wrote on Twitter.
“We’ll remain vigilant & ready to fight anything that may come.”

Hareth
Andrade, a national staffer with Mi Familia Vota, an organization that
focuses on voter engagement, said the president’s tweet is a “sore loser
remark.” Andrade is also a DACA recipient.

“This appeal tactic
will only run out the time he has left as president,” she said. “Our
movement knows better, we have deeply organized our communities, and for
now, have a SCOTUS decision on our side to keep our DACA benefits
intact.”

Megan Essaheb, director of immigration advocacy for the
Washington-based nonprofit Asian Americans Advancing Justice, said that
while Trump can still terminate DACA, he could also choose to support
legislation that provides legal status to recipients along with 300,000
people who have temporary status and the estimated 11 million who are in
the U.S. without permission.

“If he chooses cruelty, it will be on him,” Essaheb said.

The
Trump administration says it’s moving forward against DACA, even though
experts say there isn’t enough time to knock down the program before
the November election.

White House press secretary Kayleigh
McEnany said the president has vowed to take care of DACA far better
than the Democrats ever did.

“We want to find a compassionate way to do this,” McEnany said.

“We’re
going to move as quickly as we can to put options in front of the
president,” Ken Cuccinelli, acting head of U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services, told “Fox & Friends.”

“That still leaves
open the appropriate solution which the Supreme Court mentioned, and
that is that Congress step up to the plate,” he said.

Activists
are vowing to keep fighting for a long-term solution for young
immigrants whose parents brought them to the United States when they
were children. They not only face a White House that’s prioritized
immigration restrictions but also a divided Congress that is not
expected to pass legislation providing a path to citizenship anytime
soon.

The high court decision on Thursday elicited surprise, joy
and some apprehension from immigrants and advocates who know it’s only a
temporary development.

“This is a huge victory for us,” Diana Rodriguez, a 22-year-old DACA recipient, said through tears.

Rodriguez,
who works with the New York Immigration Coalition, said she hasn’t been
back to Mexico since she was brought to the U.S. at age 2. The ruling
means young immigrants can keep working, providing for their families and making “a difference in this country,” she said.

But the work isn’t over, Rodriguez said: “We can’t stop right now, we have to continue fighting.”

Congressional Democrats, meanwhile, appeared satisfied to let the court’s decision stand as the law of the land for now.

While
some Republicans asserted that now is the time for Congress to clarify
the immigration system, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made it clear that
Democrats were done with their legislation before the summer break and
had little interest in meeting GOP demands to fund Trump’s long-promised
border wall as part of any comprehensive immigration overhaul.

Democratic
presidential contender Joe Biden said that if elected, he would send
lawmakers proposed legislation on his first day in office to make DACA
protections permanent.

For now, immigrants who are part of DACA
will keep their protections, but there are tens of thousands of others
who could have enrolled if Trump didn’t halt the program three years
ago.

The Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank,
estimates that about 66,000 young immigrants meet the age requirement of
15 to join the program but haven’t been able to do so because the
government has only been renewing two-year permits for those already
enrolled.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services hasn’t signaled whether it will accept any new applications and it’s unlikely the Trump administration would do so without being forced by the courts. Still, pro-DACA organizations are encouraging those who qualify to file first-time applications.

Riechmann reported from Washington. Associated Press reporters Lisa Mascaro in Washington and Deepti Hajela in New York contributed to this report.