Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) expressed that Democrats would “love” to collaborate with President-elect Trump on a deal for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients.
Schumer made the comments during an appearance on NBC News’s Meet the Press on Sunday, where he was asked about potential areas for cooperation between Democrats and Trump’s incoming administration, especially considering the president-elect’s plans to address immigration.
Although Trump has advocated for extensive deportation measures, he has shown interest in allowing DACA recipients, commonly referred to as Dreamers, to remain in the United States.
“Well, we’d love to do that,” Schumer said Sunday. “Our party has been strongly fighting for the Dreamers for a decade.”
“Look, these are people, they were little, tiny children when they were brought over the border,” he continued. “Many of them have been here for decades. Some have served in the armed forces. Many of them are working very productively and have families.”
“Yes, if we can find a solution so that the Dreamers could stay here, we’d welcome it,” Schumer continued, per The Hill.
DACA, a controversial program stemming from an executive order issued by then-President Barack Obama in 2012 that essentially granted amnesty to illegal immigrants brought into the country as children, has been a political football since its inception.
Republicans frequently argued that Obama, as president, had no authority to grant amnesty to anyone in the country illegally. However, in a narrow 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June 2020 that the manner in which the first Trump administration attempted to rescind the program was unlawful without commenting on whether its creation by Obama was constitutional.
“We do not decide whether DACA or its rescission are sound policies,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority. “The wisdom of those decisions is none of our concern. Here we address only whether the Administration complied with the procedural requirements in the law that insist on ‘a reasoned explanation for its action.'”
With that decision, the nation’s highest court left open the potential for additional litigation, since justices did not decide the question of whether Obama’s executive order creating DACA was constitutional. And in fact, there has been additional litigation that actually addresses the legality of the program.
Currently, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, based in New Orleans and historically one of the country’s more conservative courts, is reviewing a challenge to the program.
“The case challenging the legality of the DACA policy is currently under review by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. We are now waiting on a final decision, or instructions on next steps, from the panel of judges. Oral arguments were held on October 10, 2024,” Fwd.us reported in late October. The appeals court had previously ruled the program illegal. In September 2023, Judge Andrew Hanen, a federal judge in the Southern District of Texas, ruled that the DACA program is illegal.
If the 5th Circuit rules again that the program violates the Constitution, there will likely be another appeal to the Supreme Court — and that could be why both Trump and Schumer are talking about working out a deal, which could actually be a win-win for both sides.
Democrats could claim victory in successfully defending the program; Trump and Republicans could claim victory as being champions of immigrants who, by no fault of their own, were brought into the U.S. illegally, even as Trump’s administration works to remove potentially millions of illegal migrant adults who were allowed into the U.S. under the Biden-Harris administration, starting first with those who have committed crimes.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has said she is open to receiving migrants from the U.S. who are not citizens of her country, which is a win for the president-elect.
This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
