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.

Priceless Video: Living Wall of Riot Cops Opens, Pulls in Unsuspecting Anti-ICE Punk, Closes Like He Was Never There

Trump admin backs off controversial $2B fund, clearing path for stalled GOP immigration bill

Watch: MSNBC Shill Is Scared to Attend July 4 Parties but Was Somehow Fine When BLM Burned Down Minneapolis Behind Him

Biden’s posh vacation enclave roiled as church axes July 4 tradition over ‘whiteness’ debate: ‘Spewing lies’

Judge denies Tyler Robinson secrecy request and orders hearing on prosecutors’ statements

Marine combat veteran bets big on Hispanic outreach in bid to flip Dem-held House seat

Video: Panicking Anti-ICE ‘Medic’ Is Almost in Tears Begging Rioters to Leave as NJ State Police Roll in the Big Guns

Teenage Barrel Racing Competitor Arrested After Horse-Stabbing Rampage

British diplomats were driven insane trying to find very specific gift for Trump, tranche of emails reveals

Mamdami marks Pride Month, says honoring ‘queer and transgender’ contributions would take more than 30 days

Pro-Gun Organizations Slap Virginia With Complaint Alleging Virginia Defied Court Orders on Gun Control

Chemical Tank Disaster Victim Remains are Found

Fourth US drug boat strike in a week kills more ‘narco-terrorists’

Fight for Los Angeles mayor tightens up as Karen Bass, Spencer Pratt, and Nithya Raman make final pitch

Trump flips script on left, maneuvers to use foreign influence law against the them

“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.