Second Preliminary Injunction Against DACA Rescission

On February 13, 2018, Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York issued a nationwide preliminary injunction against the rescission of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program [PDF version]. This marks the second injunction against the DACA rescission. Judge Garaufis granted the injunction after concluding that the plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits of their claims under the Administrative Procedures Act (APA). Specifically, he concluded that the Trump Administration did not opt to rescind DACA as an exercise of discretion or based on a reasoned policy judgment, but instead did so upon concluding that DACA was unconstitutional or unlawful based on reasons that Judge Garaufis did not consider to be persuasive or sound (note: he did not reach the question of DACA's underlying legality). We covered the legal rationale of Attorney General Jeff Sessions for the DACA rescission in a separate post [see article].