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.

DHS moves all detainees out of ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ amid hurricane concerns

LaGuardia shuts down runway for second time in weeks after pavement issue resurfaces

Shocking Report: ‘250,000 Young White Girls’ Victimized by Muslim Rape Gangs

MUST SEE: ICE Officer Lifts Drowning Child Out of Water, Then Saves His Life with CPR – Dems Call People Like Him ‘Gestapo’

Trump switches support in Oklahoma congressional race as formerly endorsed pastor candidate suspends campaign

Trump-endorsed congressional candidate pledges entire $174K salary to wounded Iraq War veteran’s family

FTC alleges influential transgender health organization misled parents about safety of youth treatments

Handwritten Epstein Notes Found, Confirm He Wanted to Hurt Trump as Badly as Possible, Wasn’t Friend at All

Vance rejects claims Trump-Iran deal echoes Obama-era logic as hawks raise alarm

Trump sends Senate GOP reeling with intelligence chief chaos

Op-Ed: Informed Consent Is Lacking for Abortion

Alex Murdaugh’s lawyer vows to dismantle infamous kennel video as defense weighs another turn on the stand

Smiling suspect stands out as authorities release mugshots of 5 accused in alleged White House UFC attack plot

How World Cup tourists have fallen in love with America, and America has fallen in love with the tourists

How alleged White House UFC attack plotters organized across four states

“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.