November 9, 2018: The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a District Court’s nationwide injunction requiring the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to continue to accept DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) application renewals while a lawsuit challenging the Administration’s termination of DACA continues. In affirming the lower court’s ruling and injunction, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals expressed its belief that the creation of the DACA program itself was lawful, stating that “DACA was a permissible exercise of executive discretion.”

This decision means that DHS must continue to accept DACA renewal applications until further notice (including applications for employment cards), but is still not required to accept new DACA applications from people who were not previously already granted DACA benefits.

More information is available at http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/general/2018/11/08/18-15068%20Opinion.pdf; https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/415748-us-appeals-court-rules-against-trump-over-daca-cancellation; and https://www.fragomen.com/insights/alerts/ninth-circuit-upholds-injunction-requiring-dhs-accept-daca-renewals.