Press Statement  AG Healey Statement on U.S. Supreme Court’s Decision to Uphold the DACA Program

Boston — Massachusetts Attorney Maura Healey today issued the following statement in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling against the Trump Administration’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) program.

“Today, we won another big victory against Donald Trump in the Supreme Court. The Court ruled that the Trump administration’s termination of the DACA program was an unlawful attack on our Dreamers and our communities.         

This is a huge win for our young people and our country. And we won’t stop fighting now. I urge Congress to take action to protect this program, as well as Temporary Protected Status for immigrant residents in Massachusetts and all across America.

The Trump Administration may have tried to end DACA and the dreams of millions, but know this: my Office is your government too. We will keep our promise and stand with Dreamers every step of the way.”

BACKGROUND

Since 2012, DACA has benefitted 800,000 young people across the country by allowing them to work legally, acquire driver’s licenses, open bank accounts, access lines of credit, purchase homes and cars, attend college, pay taxes, and obtain employer-based health insurance. Massachusetts is home to more than one million immigrants, including nearly 20,000 DACA-eligible residents.

This is a culmination of a lawsuit that Attorney General Healey co-led in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York challenging the Trump Administration’s decision to terminate DACA. In February 2018, the Court issued a nationwide preliminary injunction that halted DACA’s termination. In September 2019, AG Healey joined a coalition of 16 attorneys general in filing a brief in the Supreme Court to defend the injunction protecting DACA.