Northwest lawmakers react to Supreme Court’s DACA ruling

WASHINGTON – Lawmakers and other elected officials from Washington state expressed relief Thursday after the Supreme Court blocked the Trump administration’s effort to end a program that protects the “Dreamers,” undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.

Washington Democrats were ecstatic after the court, in a 5-4 decision, ruled that the administration bypassed required procedures and didn’t appropriately consider the “hardship” dismantling the program, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, would cause. Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court’s four liberal justices, writing in the majority opinion that the court did “not decide whether DACA or its rescission are sound policies.”

“I am so excited and relieved to see this ruling,” said Rep. Kim Schrier, a Democrat whose district stretches from Wenatchee to Issaquah. “700,000 young people in this country can now rest easily. It was a smart decision by the Supreme Court and I think the next step is to codify this into law.”

There are currently about 16,000 DACA recipients in Washington and 2,700 in Idaho, according to the Migration Policy Institute.

Rep. Dan Newhouse, a Yakima Republican, hailed the court’s decision and also emphasized the need for Congress to provide certainty to DACA recipients, who have been in limbo since President Trump moved to end the Obama-era program in 2017.

“Congress still has the responsibility to provide a truly permanent legislative solution as President Trump called for three years ago,” he said in a statement. “We cannot continue to leave the fate of Dreamers before the courts or in the balance between Administrations.”

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Spokane, who has long criticized the way President Obama went around Congress to enact the program, said in a statement, “Today’s decision doesn’t change the fact that Congress needs to work to establish common-sense policies for children of immigrants, like those here in Eastern Washington, and recognize their unique circumstances and the value they bring to the country as students, job-holders, members of the military, and members of society.”

But the consensus that Congress should act doesn’t mean lawmakers will get a deal done. Many Republicans have expressed support for a narrow bill to give the Dreamers permanent resident status, but Democrats have held out for a comprehensive immigration reform package, something Congress hasn’t managed to pass since Ronald Reagan was president.

Newhouse was one of just seven Republicans who voted for the Dream and Promise Act, a broad reform bill that passed the House in June 2019. Trump has opposed many of the provisions in the Democrats’ bill, and the GOP-controlled Senate has little incentive to take it up.

Trump reacted viscerally on Twitter to the ruling Thursday, which came days after the court extended discrimination protections to LGBT workers, calling the two decisions “shotgun blasts into the face of people that are proud to call themselves Republicans or Conservatives.”

Obama, who enacted DACA in 2012, tweeted his approval of the decision and encouraged voters to put Democrats in Congress and the White House.

“Eight years ago this week,” the former president wrote, “we protected young people who were raised as part of our American family from deportation. Today, I’m happy for them, their families, and all of us. We may look different and come from everywhere, but what makes us American are our shared ideals.”

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., in a statement issued in both English and Spanish, called the decision “a rebuke of President Trump and this administration’s cruel, hateful anti-immigrant agenda.”

”These people, who are American in every way that truly matters, are as much a part of our nation as any of us,” Murray said, “and today’s decision will allow individuals and families all over our country to breathe more easily knowing they have a place in the nation they’ve long called home.”

Her fellow Washington Democrat, Sen. Maria Cantwell, called the Dreamers “my fellow Americans” and issued a broadside against the White House’s immigration policies.

“Time after time the President has broken the law and enacted inhumane policies,” Cantwell wrote, “from separating families to putting asylum seekers in jail. The Trump administration has spent millions and millions of American taxpayer dollars defending illegal policies and has divided our country. It must stop.”

Idaho GOP Sen. Mike Crapo, in a statement, struck a different tone but also called for Congress to pass immigration reform legislation.

“The appropriate treatment of children brought to the U.S. illegally at a young age is an ongoing key issue before Congress,” he said. “Following today’s Supreme Court decision to allow the DACA program to remain in place, I will continue to press for solid immigration reform that will not provide incentives for illegal immigration through rewarding illegal entry.”

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Seattle, who was born in India and is one of 14 naturalized citizens in Congress, said in a statement, “I know that Dreamers are American. Dreamers are home. Dreamers are us. Today’s Supreme Court ruling affirms that.”

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson, both Democrats, also voiced their support for DACA recipients, whom Inslee called “an integral part of our communities, contributing talent and promise to our state.”

“President Trump’s effort to abandon thousands of Dreamers was both cruel and unlawful,” wrote Ferguson, who was one of 16 state attorneys general who sued the Trump administration to preserve DACA in 2017. “Today, our nation’s highest court agreed. Dreamers make our communities better and stronger places to live. Thanks to today’s decision, they can continue to live and work in what is for many of them the only home they’ve ever known.”