Policy Brief: Ending DACA Would Limit Access to Higher Education in Ten States

On June 18, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 vote to maintain DACA in place. The Court found that the Trump administration’s rationale for ending DACA in 2017 was “arbitrary and capricious.” The Court also found that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees DACA, failed to properly consider “what if anything to do about the hardship to DACA recipients,” as it was required to do under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The Supreme Court’s ruling allows DACA to continue in place for the moment and could potentially mean that applications for initial (new) DACA requests and advance parole re-open. However, the Court’s decision does not preclude the Trump administration from further attempts to end DACA. This report provides a policy analysis in ten states that concentrate almost 100,000 DACA recipients.