Sotomayor at DACA Oral Arguments: ‘This Is About Our Choice to Destroy Lives’

During oral arguments at the United States Supreme Court Tuesday on he future of the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals (DACA) amnesty program, Justice Sonia Sotomayor injected politics into the discussion, saying President Donald Trump has said he would find a way to keep DACA recipients in the United States but has not done so.

Sotomayor also addressed what other justices cited — the “reliance interests” of DACA recipients, or how the government program has allowed illegal migrants to get Social Security numbers, drivers licenses, and work permits that they have come to rely on.

Sotomayor said:

I think my colleagues have rightly pointed [out] there’s a whole lot of reliance interests that weren’t looked at, including the very President of — current President telling DACA-eligible people that they were safe under him and that he would find a way to keep them here. And so he hasn’t and, instead, he’s done this. And that, I think, has something to be considered before you rescind a policy.

“Right,” Solicitor General Noel Francisco said.

Hackers tied to Iran breach FBI director’s personal email and post private images

Secret Service agent assigned to Jill Biden injured in ‘negligent discharge’ at Philadelphia airport

AOC says politicians, especially Democrats, should promise not to accept ‘AI money’

Sheridan Gorman’s university newspaper touts ICE tracker after freshman allegedly murdered by illegal alien

Movie Review: Hopeful Comedy ‘Home Delivery’ Delivers Heart, Laughs, and Free Admission for Expectant Mothers

Savannah Guthrie to return to Today show after absence

‘Maybe It Wasn’t a Bug…’ Internet Weighs In on Man Who Discovered He Could Access 7,000 Robotic Vacuums

Battleground Dem candidate linked public displays of faith to political violence in 2023 speech

Senate passes overnight bill to fund most of Homeland Security as fight nears end and more top headlines

Fetterman tells far-left prosecutor to ‘lighten up’ after threatening to arrest ICE agents over raids

FTC commissioner likens American Bar Association to ‘communist party’ over far-left advocacy

NHL’s Nashville Predators Unveil New LGBT Logo, and It Doesn’t Land the Way They Hoped

Just In: Trump’s Legacy Will Now Appear on All New US Currency

Sorely needed US housing supply expansion may run through 3D printed homes

Israel has recognized Somaliland. Will the US follow?

“Not just say I’ll give you six months to do it,” Sotomayer said, referring to Trump’s past announcement that he would hold off on rescinding DACA for six months to allow Congress to come up with a legislative solution.

“And where is the political decision made clearly?” Sotomayor said referring to the June 22, 2018 memorandum issued by Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to explain why the department was rescinding DACA.

“That this is not about the law; this is about our choice to destroy lives,” Sotomayor said, directly expressing what she believed a ruling to end DACA would mean to those enrolled in it.

The back and forth between the justices, Francisco and two attorneys who argued for DACA petitioners — attorney Ted Olson and Michael Mongan, Solicitor General at California Department of Justice – included more discussion about the impact the ruling would have on both DACA recipients and the future enforcement of federal immigration law.

Olson and Mongan argued that the Trump administration did not provide a compelling reason for rescinding DACA, which came to the high court after differing results in lower court decisions on the matter.