DAPA Rescinded: Trump Administration Rolls Back Plan To Protect Immigrant Parents

WASHINGTON, DC — Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly announced late Thursday night that his department was rescinding an Obama-era plan that sought to protect some undocumented immigrants.

Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Residents, known commonly as DAPA, was a plan to allow undocumented immigrants with children in the country legally to avoid deportation indefinitely. Since President Obama was never able to pass immigration reform through Congress, he developed DAPA in 2014 as a way to reduce the disruption immigration enforcement can have on families. (For more information on this and other political stories, subscribe to the White House Patch for daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

When 26 states objected to the plan, the courts blocked its implementation. It never went fully into effect.

“There is no credible path forward to litigate the currently enjoined policy," Kelly said in a statement.

Critics of the proposal said it represented executive branch overreach, because an act of Congress is required for such a drastic policy change. Obama and his defenders said it was a reasonable extension of prerogatives of executive discretion enjoyed by his predecessors.

Some estimates suggest the plan would have protected as many as 4 million undocumented immigrants. This group would include no immigrants who have committed serious crimes, came to the country before 2010 and had children who were American citizens or lawful residents by Nov. 20, 2014, when the order was signed.

Mayor of New York City Bill de Blasio tweeted that the decision to rescind the order was "A particularly cruel act on the 5th anniversary of DACA, which is still in effect. " DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, is a policy that grants indefinite protection to many undocumented immigrants who came to the country as children. President Trump has expressed some ambivalence on the issue of childhood arrivals.

"I applaud President Trump for acknowledging what President Obama himself acknowledged over 20 times — the Obama Administration's DAPA immigration edict was a violation of law and the separation of powers," said Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who led the charge against DAPA.

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