MIT Joins Peer Institutions in Filing an Amicus Curiae Brief in the Supreme Court of the United States in Support of the DACA Program

On October 3, 2019, MIT joined 18 peer institutions (“Amici”) in filing an amicus curiae – or “friend of the court” – brief in the Supreme Court of the United States in support of respondents in the consolidated cases captioned Department of Homeland Security, et al. v. Regents of the University of California, et al.

In this brief, Amici argue that the Supreme Court should affirm several lower court decisions that blocked the rescission of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (“DACA”) program. In their brief, Amici explain to the Court how DACA students contribute greatly to U.S. colleges and universities and that rescinding the DACA program would, among other things, “deprive the United States of the benefit of DACA students’ considerable talents.” The entire brief can be found here.

The filing of this brief in the Supreme Court follows earlier amicus briefs that MIT joined in the lower courts in cases challenging the repeal of the DACA program. The previous briefs were filed in Federal District Courts in California, the District of Columbia, New York and Texas, as well as in the United States Courts of Appeals for the 2nd and 9th Circuits. In each of the briefs, Amici successfully urged the courts to rule that the government should be blocked from ending the DACA program.

The DACA program was established by the Obama Administration in 2012, and applied to certain U.S. residents who were brought to the U.S. as children but had not acquired legal immigration status. It allowed these young people, sometimes referred to as “Dreamers,” to reside in the U.S. without fear of deportation, and provided them authorization to work legally. The Trump administration repealed the DACA program in September 2017.