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.

If You’ve Ever Thought Life Is Too Painful to Be Worth Living, This Piece Might Just Change Everything

Shouting match erupts between RFK Jr and Dem lawmaker over his comments about Black children

Hillary Clinton rips Trump on migrant child detentions, but Bill Clinton’s own record cuts deep

10 House Republicans Side with Democrats in Bid to Block Trump from Deporting Haitian Immigrants

Federal agency approves Trump’s plan for triumphal arch ahead of America 250

FBI has received DNA data from Nancy Guthrie case: sources

Sailors injured after fire breaks out on aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower during shipyard maintenance

Missing general, scientist deaths tied to secret US work prompt White House probe

Illegal aliens are getting taxpayer-funded boob jobs and sex change ops in Newsom’s California, watchdog says

Eleven House Republicans vote to rebuke Trump and protect 350,000 Haitian migrants

US Warns it Will ‘Actively Pursue’ Any Vessels Attempting to Aid Iran Outside of the Middle East

Ted Cruz Rips Tucker Carlson Over His ‘Muslims Love Jesus’ Claim: ‘Deranged, Leftist Psycho’

House rejects Democrat attempt to limit Trump’s Iran war powers

Trump says Israel, Lebanon agree to 10-day ceasefire

Tyler Robinson judge unseals ATF report in assassination of Charlie Kirk

“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.