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.

Florida firefighters allegedly waterboarded, whipped rookie over TikTok video as 4 face criminal charges

Bear remains under California home after weeks of failed removal attempts

Mainstream Media Reporter Slammed for Insane Suggestion About Somali Day Care Owners Turning to Violence

SEE IT: Daycare center at heart of Minnesota fraud investigation fixes sign after viral mockery

Shirley associate in viral video says he filed criminal complaint against Walz over daycare fraud allegations

Mamdani taps controversial lawyer who defended al Qaeda terrorist for top role: ‘Powerful advocate’

Fox News Politics Newsletter: House GOP whip calls for revoking citizenship over Minnesota fraud

UK government squirms after repatriating antisemitic, anti-white activist from Egypt

Churches Across the Country Join in Troubling Closure Trend for Final Sunday of 2025

BREAKING: Kash Patel Says Minnesota Fraud Probes Were ‘Buried’ Under Biden – They Implicated His ‘Allies’

Police Release New Dash Cam Footage That May Show Missing Texas Teen Camila Mendoza Olmos

Judge considers releasing Jan. 6 pipe bomb defendant into home detention

Not Just Minnesota Buzz About Somali-Linked Fraud Emerges in Two Additional States

Elon Musk unleashes on Tim Walz with new nickname amid Minnesota fraud investigations

Judge halts Homeland Security plan to end Temporary Protected Status for South Sudan

“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.