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.

Virginia court sentences Abbey Gate conspirator to 20 years for role in explosion

DOJ Arrests LA Nonprofit Employees in Connection to Multimillion-Dollar Homeless Fraud Schemes

Trump Nominates Lee Greenwood’s Wife, Kimberly, to Be US Ambassador

Kennedy scion accused Trump of ‘bankrupting’ Kennedy Center as ‘hostage taking’ name change battle persists

GOP lawmakers blindsided by new revelations about Trump Butler shooter: ‘Awfully strange’

SEE IT: El-Sayed can’t shake one question before meeting with Dem power brokers

Texas Farm Bureau endorses Ken Paxton after James Talarico faced fallout from vegan comments

Haitian Illegal Immigrant Who Went Viral for Shouting ‘Biden Forever!’ During Arrest Deported by ICE

Thomas Massie Says He Intentionally Blindsided House Leaders When Filing Hegseth Impeachment Articles

‘Worse than Watergate’ New FBI files detail agent’s push to join Trump probe, investigate Elon Musk

5 states could be the biggest losers in Trump’s trade war with Canada, expert warns

Injured Louisiana boy hailed a ‘superhero’ for seeking help during deadly stabbing rampage

Florida woman allegedly drugs man she met at club, steals his nearly $100K Rolex: police

Muslim Mayor of Dearborn Invites Rapper Booted from Stadium Tour Over Anti-Israel Rant to Perform in City

International protests break out over rising oil and gas costs

“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.