DHS announces reboot of DACA, promises stricter approach to backdoor citizenship

The government’s legal immigration agency said Monday that it will give strict scrutiny to DACA recipients who try to use a backdoor path to citizenship, as the Department of Homeland Security finalized plans for restarting the program after a Supreme Court decision this summer.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said illegal immigrant “Dreamers” can obtain advance parole to travel outside the U.S. — which offers the indirect path to citizenship — only if they have special circumstances such as an urgent national security reason or the need for a medical procedure that can be performed only outside the U.S.

That is a major change from the Obama years, when school or work trips were also counted as valid reasons. University groups would schedule trips to Mexico specifically to create an opportunity for students with status under DACA to win advance parole and get a chance at legalization.

Immigration advocates said the Obama administration was generous with granting permission.

Under Mr. Trump, USCIS says that even those with good reasons for leaving may be denied advance parole by the adjudicating officer.

“The determination whether to grant advance parole to an alien is entirely within the discretion of USCIS and must be made on a case-by-case basis,” the agency said.

“Advance parole” means permission to be readmitted into the U.S. after leaving. It isn’t necessary for citizens and legal permanent residents, but those on special permits such as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals are generally not supposed to leave.

Those paroled back into the U.S. can adjust their legal status with sponsorship from immediate relatives.

Under the Obama administration, USCIS approved more than 45,000 advance parole requests from Dreamers. More than 14,000 were able to adjust their status, the first step on the path toward citizenship.

The new rules were part of a reboot for DACA, the Obama-era program that President Trump tried to phase out. The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling, allowed DACA to continue operating after saying Mr. Trump’s team cut too many corners.

Homeland Security is reviewing the program with an eye toward trying another phaseout. In the meantime, the department has issued rules to tighten the program.

No current DACA permits will be canceled, but when Dreamers try to renew them, they will be granted only one additional year rather than the two envisioned by President Obama.

USCIS also said it will accept renewals only from those who have been approved before.

That means tens of thousands of illegal immigrants who were too young to apply before the 2017 phaseout, but who have come of age in the three years since, cannot gain status.

“The rejections will be without prejudice, meaning aliens will be able to reapply should USCIS begin accepting new requests in the future from aliens who never before received DACA,” the agency said.

DACA gives a reprieve from deportation and also comes with a work permit, which can be used to obtain a driver’s license and get some taxpayer benefits.

The American Civil Liberties Union called the tightened restrictions “cruel.”

“We have news for Trump: DACA recipients — those with current status, as well as those who qualify but will now be denied it — are American. This is their home,” said Andrea Flores, deputy director of immigration policy at the ACLU.