Reconsideration of the June 15, 2012 Memo Entitled "Exercising Prosecutorial Discretion with Respect to Individuals Who Came to the United States as Children"

On June 15, 2012, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano established the policy known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) through a memorandum entitled “Exercising Prosecutorial Discretion with Respect to Individuals Who Came to the United States as Children.” Ever since, the policy has been subject to substantial controversy. In recent years, Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke and Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen concluded that the DACA policy should be fully rescinded and issued additional memoranda in 2017 and 2018, respectively, to effect that decision.

On June 18, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision that did not question the authority of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to rescind the DACA policy, but determined that the 2017 and 2018 memoranda had not complied with certain requirements for doing so. See Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California, Nos. 18-587, 18-588, 18-589. Accordingly, the Court concluded that the rescission must be vacated and remanded to DHS so that it “may consider the problem anew.” Regents, Slip op. at 29.

By this memorandum, I am rescinding the 2017 and 2018 memoranda, and making certain immediate changes to the DACA policy to facilitate my thorough consideration of how to address DACA in light of the Supreme Court’s decision. For the reasons outlined below, pending my full reconsideration of the DACA policy, I direct DHS personnel to take all appropriate actions to reject all pending and future initial requests for DACA, to reject all pending and future applications for advance parole absent exceptional circumstances, and to shorten DACA renewals consistent with the parameters established in this memorandum.

Read full memorandum below