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.

Feds Warn Law Enforcement of Potential Iranian Sleeper Cells Following Discovery of Encrypted Communications

Trump’s Freedom 250 unveils IndyCar racetrack in DC: ‘Imagine these views’

Whistleblower says CBP chief targeted senior staff over ‘political vendettas’

New Details: Alleged IED Throwers in NYC Had Naturalized Parents – IEDs Contained the ‘Mother of Satan’ Explosive, Rep. Roy Calls for Pause on All Legal Immigration

Schumer once blocked Trump’s move to fill the nation’s oil reserves, now he wants them opened

China-linked birth tourism under scrutiny as GOP lawmakers press Trump admin for answers

Liberal dark money boosts Democrats’ Virginia redistricting effort, massively outraising opponents

WATCH: GOP Rep Roasts Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz And State AG Keith Ellison over Massive Fraud Scandal Point by Point

EXCLUSIVE: Trump rejects shielding Biden records from Senate probes in executive privilege showdown

Breaking: NYC Bomb Attack ‘ISIS-Inspired Terrorism,’ NYPD Commissioner Says

DHS hammers Dems over airport security lines amid funding lapse

The Most Dishonest Headline We’ve Ever Seen: The NYT’s Headline on the Islamist IED Attack at Mamdani’s Mansion Will Blow Your Mind

Iranian Women’s Soccer Team Appears to Cry for Help with Subtle Hand Gesture

Tankers to resume normal movement in Middle East in ‘a few weeks’ at worst, Energy sec says, ending oil surge

Airport chaos escalates pressure to resolve DHS government shutdown

“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.