News

Supreme Court Rebuffs Trump’s Attempt to Dismantle DACA

Published

5 years ago

June 18, 2020

Kiki

On Thursday, the United States Supreme Court ruled that Pres. Donald Trump’s
administration cannot immediately end DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals, which was created in 2012 by former Pres. Barack Obama when Congress
would not create immigration reforms.

The participants in DACA are called “DREAMers”

In 2017, Trump targeted DACA and vowed to end the program that allowed about
700,000 people brought to the U.S. as children to apply for a temporary status that
prevented their deportation.

Trump tweeted his reasoning for ending the program, saying that DREAMers “are far
from ‘angels.’ Some are very tough, hardened criminals.”

Prospective DREAMers, when applying to DACA, go through a background check and
cannot be felons or commit a “significant misdemeanor offense.” At this time, it is known
that 29,000 health care professionals working on COVID-19 are DREAMers.

“The appropriate recourse is, therefore, to remand to DHS so that it may reconsider the
problem anew,” Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote in the majority opinion and was
joined by Justices Elena Kagan, Steven Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Sonia
Sotomayor. In the split decision, 5-4, the justices seemed to suggest that the Trump
Administration may have violated the law by attempting to end DACA so abruptly
without considering the overarching impact of the end of the program not only on people,
but on organizations and educational institutions.

Under Trump’s directive, according to the Supreme Court, the Dept. of Homeland
Security’s (DHS) methodology in attempting to end DACA was “arbitrary and
capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act.”

Sotomayor added that Trump initially told the DREAMers that they were “safe” and then
started on his campaign to end DACA. She said the termination of DACA would
“destroy lives.”

Of the 700,000 DREAMers/undocumented immigrants, many are from Mexico and
Central America.

Oral arguments were held Tuesday morning, June 16. A plaintiff, Antonio was present
during oral arguments and other DREAMers were in line to be present also.

According to a CNN interview, Antonio said “they will decide my fate.” CNN also
interviewed DREAMer Cynthia De la Torre Castro from Fort Worth, Texas, who
said: “This decision is historic and can disrupt everyone’s lives”

Plaintiffs, including Antonio, other individual DREAMers, the University of California
and individual states argued that the Trump Administration’s proposal to end DACA was
in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act, a federal law that lets agencies know
how to establish regulations and, in this case, dismantle programs. In other words,
the administration would have to follow certain regulations to eliminate DACA and those
regulations were not followed.

Briefs in support of DACA were filed by 143 business associations and
companies. Research from the Cato Institute found that it would cost companies $6.3
billion to replace DREAMers “if they can even find new employees to fill the empty
positions.”

Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, filed a brief in support of DACA.  Apple employs 443
DREAMers from 25 different countries and four continents.  Cook said:  “We did not
hire them out of kindness or charity.  We did it because DREAMers embody Apple’s
innovative strategy.  They come from diverse backgrounds and display a wide range of
skills and experiences that equip them to tackle problems from different perspectives.”

Through a tweet, Trump expressed his dissatisfaction with the Supreme Court’s decisions
on DACA and on granting employment protections for the LGBTQ community:
“These horrible and politically charged decisions coming out of the Supreme Court are
shotgun blasts into the face of people that are proud to call themselves Republicans or
Conservatives. We need more Justices or we will lose our 2nd Amendment & everything
else. Vote Trump 2020!”

Kiki

Posts by Kiki

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of December 25 – 31, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of December 25 – 31, 2024

Published

4 hours ago

December 26, 2024

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Oakland Post

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Bay Area

Glydways Breaking Ground on 14-Acre Demonstration Facility at Hilltop Mall

Glydways has been testing its technology at CCTA’s GoMentum Station in Concord for several years. The company plans to install an ambitious 28-mile Autonomous Transit Network in East Contra Costa County. The new Richmond facility will be strategically positioned near that project, according to Glydways.

Published

2 days ago

December 24, 2024

Oakland Post

Image of planned Richmond facility courtesy of Glydways.

The Richmond Standard

Glydways, developer of microtransit systems using autonomous, small-scale vehicles, is breaking ground on a 14-acre Development and Demonstration Facility at the former Hilltop Mall property in Richmond, the Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA) reported on social media.

Glydways, which released a statement announcing the project Monday, is using the site while the mall property undergoes a larger redevelopment.

“In the interim, Glydways will use a portion of the property to showcase its technology and conduct safety and reliability testing,” the company said.

The new Richmond development hub will include “over a mile of dedicated test track, enabling Glydways to refine its solutions in a controlled environment while simulating real-world conditions,” the company said.

Visitors to the facility will be able to experience on-demand travel, explore the control center and visit a showroom featuring virtual reality demonstrations of Glydways projects worldwide.

The hub will also house a 13,000-square-foot maintenance and storage facility to service the growing fleet of Glydcars.

“With this new facility [at the former Hilltop Mall property], we’re giving the public a glimpse of the future, where people can experience ultra-quiet, on-demand transit—just like hailing a rideshare, but with the reliability and affordability of public transit,” said Tim Haile, executive director of CCTA.

Janet Galvez, vice president and investment officer at Prologis, owner of the Hilltop Mall property, said her company is “thrilled” to provide space for Glydways and is continuing to work with the city on future redevelopment plans for the broader mall property.

Richmond City Manager Shasa Curl added that Glydways’ presence “will not only help test new transit solutions but also activate the former Mall site while preparation and finalization of the Hilltop Horizon Specific Plan is underway.

Oakland Post

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Alameda County

Last City Council Meeting of the Year Ends on Sour Note with Big Budget Cuts

In a five to one vote, with Councilmembers Carroll Fife and Janani Ramachandran excused, the council passed a plan aimed at balancing the $130 million deficit the city is facing. Noel Gallo voted against the plan, previously citing concerns over public safety cuts, while Nikki Fortunato-Bas, Treva Reid, Rebecca Kaplan, Kevin Jenkins, and Dan Kalb voted in agreement with the plan.

Published

2 days ago

December 24, 2024

Oakland Post

Oakland City Council voted on a plan to balance the $130 million deficit at their last regular meeting of 2024. The plan reduces police spending by $25 million, temporarily closes two fire stations, and guts the cultural arts programs. iStock photo.

By Magaly Muñoz

In the last lengthy Tuesday meeting of the Oakland City Council for 2024, residents expressed strong opposition to the much needed budget cuts before a change in leadership was finalized with the certification of election results.

Oakland police and fire departments, the ambassador program, and city arts and culture will all see significant cuts over the course of two phases.

Phase 1 will eliminate two police academies, brown out two fire stations, eliminate the ambassador program, and reduce police overtime by nearly $25 million. These, with several other cuts across departments, aim to save the city $60 million. In addition, the council simultaneously approved to transfer restricted funds into its general purpose fund, amounting to over $40 million.

Phase 2 includes additional fire station brownouts and the elimination of 91 jobs, aiming to recover almost $16 million in order to balance the rest of the budget.

Several organizations and residents spoke out at the meeting in hopes of swaying the council to not make cuts to their programs.

East Oakland Senior Center volunteers and members, and homeless advocates, filled the plaza just outside of City Hall with rallies to show their disapproval of the new budget plan. Senior residents told the council to “remember that you’ll get old too” and that disturbing their resources will only bring problems for an already struggling community.

While city staff announced that there would not be complete cuts to senior center facilities, there would be significant reductions to staff and possibly inter-program services down the line.

Exiting council member and interim mayor Bas told the public that she is still hopeful that the one-time $125 million Coliseum sale deal will proceed in the near future so that the city would not have to continue with drastic cuts. The deal was intended to save the city for fiscal year 2024-25, but a hold up at the county level has paused any progress and therefore millions of dollars in funds Oakland desperately needs.

The Coliseum sale has been a contentious one. Residents and city leaders were originally against using the deal as a way to balance the budget, citing doubts about the sellers, the African American Sports and Entertainment Group’s (AASEG), ability to complete the deal. Council members Reid, Ramachandran, and Gallo have called several emergency meetings to understand where the first installments of the sale are, with little to no answers.

Bas added that as the new Alameda County Supervisor for D5, a position she starts in a few weeks, she will do everything in her power to push the Coliseum sale along.

The city is also considering a sales tax measure to put on the special election ballot on April 15, 2025, which will also serve as an election to fill the now vacant D2 and mayor positions. The tax increase would raise approximately $29 million annually for Oakland, allowing the city to gain much-needed revenue for the next two-year budget.

The council will discuss the possible sales tax measure on January 9.