While the Supreme Court weighs the legal merits of DACA, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services broke out current DACA recipients by state. There are current DACA recipients in every state. As you’d imagine Florida’s near the top of the list of DACA recipients. In fact, Florida is increasingly a destination for DACA recipients from other states. Since the creation of DACA, Florida has the fifth largest population of recipients behind California, Texas, Illinois and New York.
According to federal records 32,795 people have been granted status under DACA in Florida. However, 41,526 renewals have been granted in Florida. Meaning that the net migration of DACA recipients has resulted in more than 8,700 DACA recipients relocating to Florida after having been granted status in another state or territory. New York is the only state that’s seen more of an influx of DACA recipients. Clearly the SCOTUS ruling will have a significant impact in our state. The question becomes what would happen with these people if the Supreme Court strikes down the legal challenge of President Trump’s executive action which many, myself included, think is likely?
The most likely outcome might be a legislative solution, which might be odd given the current state of politics in Washington. President Trump had previously offered a deal to congressional Democrats that would grant a path towards citizenship in exchange for border wall funding. That was rejected. If the Supreme Court sets the ball in motion, however, that could create a catalyst for change in advance of the 2020 elections. Before speculating on what the law might look like, it’d be important to obtain guidance from the high court first. The ruling strikes me as one that could include more than just a yes/no decision from the court.
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