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A federal judge ruled on Saturday that the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Chad Wolf, did not have the power to suspend new requests to the Deferred Action Program for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) of the Obama era in July.
That judge, Nicholas Garaufis of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, concluded that Wolf’s memo suspending new applicants to the immigration program was invalid because he had not been legally appointed to his post, in a move that reflects the president’s limitations Donald Trump’s tendency to rely heavily on unconfirmed Senate appointments to enact policy.
It also raises the question of whether he will be able to put in place sustainable policies through current or new interim staff in the final months of his presidency before President-elect Joe Biden takes over in January. .
Garaufis said on Saturday that Trump had not placed Wolf – who had been acting secretary since November 2019, and has not been confirmed by the Senate – as head of his federal agency according to law.
“DHS [the Department of Homeland Security] did not follow the order of succession as legally designated, ”wrote Garaufis, appointed by President Bill Clinton. “Therefore, the actions taken by the so-called acting secretaries, who did not properly perform their roles in accordance with the legal order of succession, were taken without legal authorization.”
The finding was consistent with the Government Accountability Office’s assertion in August that Wolf and another DHS official were not legitimate officials because they had been installed by another official who himself had not been properly appointed. appropriate for their position due to a paperwork error.
The ruling means Wolf’s July 28 memo effectively suspending new applications to the DACA program – of which 640,000 immigrants known as “dreamers,” who were illegally brought to the United States as children, count as live and work in the United States – was found invalid. Wolf’s memo shortened the renewal period for coverage under the program from two years to one year.
Politico’s Josh Gerstein explained who is likely to benefit the most from Garaufis’ decision:
The most immediate beneficiaries of the court’s ruling are likely immigrants eligible for DACA but who did not apply until the Trump administration ceased applications in September 2017. The ruling could also lead DHS to reinstate a benefit. DACA that the administration has largely interrupted at the same time: the possibility for the Dreamers to leave the country and return, without losing their quasi-legal status and their work permits.
However, as the Washington Post notes, the decision did not immediately eliminate the Trump administration’s changes to the DACA program – instead, the government and groups that brought the case, which includes the National Center for Immigration Law, must now meet to discuss the next steps. And there are other related pending cases that could skew this most recent ruling.
The reasons the memo was found to be invalid highlight the short-sightedness of Trump’s style of using temporary appointments to run government affairs, which he said he prefers to do due to speed and flexibility that it offers.
Trump’s dependence on acting officials is a break from the past
According to the Brookings Institution, Trump has chosen to appoint interim officials across government “at a rate that far exceeds his predecessors.”
Proponents of a balanced government have criticized Trump’s use of temporary appointments to circumvent Senate confirmation as an abuse of executive power and a way to appoint ideologically extreme or loyal officials without input from the legislature.
For example, Trump appointed Anthony Tata to a senior civilian post at the Pentagon through a temporary role after his appointment to a Senate confirmed post failed. Tata withdrew from the Senate confirmation process after discovering he had a history of sectarian remarks, such as calling former President Barack Obama a “terrorist leader.”
But beyond placing those unable to pass the Senate exam in key positions, Trump has used acting positions to circumvent laws and standards on appointing officials in departments. According to a Just Security analysis in September, there are at least 15 other civil servants in 12 departments of the executive – other than Wolf – who are not legally in office. One of the reasons for this is that the Trump administration has consistently ignored deadlines imposed on temporary appointments requiring Senate confirmation under the Federal Job Vacancy Reform Act.
As the end of Trump’s term nears, there are signs he could use the appointment of more temporary officials as a way to sow discord, slow the transition, or attempt to make a final blow. outburst before Biden’s tenure began.
For example, Trump recently appointed three new senior officials to the Pentagon last week – including replacing Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, whom he tweeted on Monday, with acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller.
Pundits told Vox’s Alex Ward that they suspected that “Trump had finally had an opening to clean the house in the Pentagon with the election now over, and that he was making people more receptive to his wishes in order to finally accomplish some of the policies of the Pentagon-led Esper had repelled, such as the withdrawal of all remaining US troops from Afghanistan before Christmas.
Relocations have also taken place in other federal departments: “Senior officials of the agencies responsible for the security of the American nuclear infrastructure, the electoral fraud branch of the Department of Justice, American foreign aid and a report. key on climate change were also removed over the past week, ”According to CNN.
In some of these cases, new officials may be able to pursue lasting policies that shape the final chapter of Trump’s presidency. But in other cases, their abilities may be limited by legal questions about their authority, as was the case with Wolf and his attempts to change the DACA program.
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