`
`
`
`
`
`Nos. 18-587, 18-588, and 18-589
`
`
`IN THE
`Supreme Court of the United States
`____________________
`DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, ET AL.,
`
`
`
`
`Petitioners,
`v.
`REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, ET AL.,
`Respondents.
`
`
`
`
`____________________
`On Writ of Certiorari to the
`United States Court of Appeals
`for the Ninth Circuit
`____________________
`BRIEF FOR AMICI CURIAE NINETEEN
`COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES
`IN SUPPORT OF RESPONDENTS
`____________________
`ANTON METLITSKY
` (Counsel of Record)
`JENNIFER B. SOKOLER
`CHARLES J. MAHONEY
`DAVID Z. COHEN
`O’MELVENY & MYERS LLP
`Times Square Tower
`7 Times Square
`New York, N.Y. 10036
`(212) 326-2000
`ametlitsky@omm.com
`
`Additional Captions Listed on Inside Cover
`
`
`
`

`

`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`Petitioners,
`
`
`DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES,
`ET AL.,
`
`v.
`NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF
`COLORED PEOPLE, ET AL.,
`Respondents.
`
`
`____________________
`On Writ of Certiorari Before Judgment
`to the United States Court of Appeals
`for the District of Columbia Circuit
`____________________
`
`
`
`
`
`
`KEVIN K. MCALEENAN, ACTING SECRETARY OF HOME-
`LAND SECURITY, ET AL.,
`
`
`Petitioners,
`v.
`MARTIN JONATHAN BATALLA VIDAL, ET AL.,
`Respondents.
`
`
`
`
`____________________
`On Writ of Certiorari Before Judgment
`to the United States Court of Appeals
`for the Second Circuit
`____________________
`
`
`
`

`

`i
`TABLE OF CONTENTS
`
`
`Page
`INTEREST OF AMICI ............................................. 1
`INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY OF
`ARGUMENT .................................................. 2
`ARGUMENT .................................................................... 5
`I. DACA Students Enrolled at Amici
`Institutions Are Some of the Most Gifted
`and Motivated Young People in the World ......... 5
`II. Rescinding DACA Would Harm Amici’s
`Students and Alumni, and Deprive Both
`Amici Institutions and the Country of
`Their Promise .......................................................... 12
`A. Ending DACA Would Have a
`Devastating Impact on DACA Students ...... 12
`B. Rescinding DACA Would Prevent
`Undocumented Students From Fully
`Benefitting From and Contributing To
`Amici’s Institutions .......................................... 15
`C. Rescinding DACA Would Deprive the
`Nation of Invaluable Resources ..................... 19
`CONCLUSION .............................................................. 22
`
`
`
`
`

`

`ii
`TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
`
`
`Page(s)
`
`Cases
`Batalla Vidal v. Nielsen,
`279 F. Supp. 3d 401 (E.D.N.Y. 2018) ............... 14
`Nat’l Ass’n for the Advancement of Colored
`People v. Trump,
`298 F. Supp. 3d 209 (D.D.C. 2018) ................... 13
`Plyler v. Doe,
`457 U.S. 202 (1982) ........................................... 14
`Regents of Univ. of Cal. v. U.S. Dep’t of
`Homeland Sec.,
`279 F. Supp. 3d 1011 (N.D. Cal. 2018) ............. 14
`Regents of Univ. of Cal. v. U.S. Dep’t of
`Homeland Sec.,
`908 F.3d 476 (9th Cir. 2018) ............................. 13
`Sweezy v. New Hampshire,
`354 U.S. 234 (1957) ............................................. 6
`Other Authorities
`Amanda Mott, Inaugural President’s
`Innovation Prize Winners Announced
`at Penn, PENNNEWS (Apr. 20, 2016) ................ 20
`Brown President Urges Trump to Continue
`DACA, BROWN UNIV. NEWS (Aug. 30, 2017) .... 22
`Brown University, Undergraduate Admission ....... 6
`Columbia Undergraduate Admissions,
`Undocumented Students and DACA .................. 7
`Cornell University, University Mission ................... 5
`
`
`
`

`

`iii
`TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
`(continued)
`
`Page(s)
`Dartmouth College, Dartmouth College Mission
`Statement ............................................................ 5
`Duke University, Indenture of James B. Duke
`Establishing the Duke Endowment (1924) ......... 5
`Durbin: Let’s Show The American Dream Is
`Still Alive By Passing The Dream Act
`(Sept. 12, 2017) ................................................. 20
`Emory University, Study Abroad at Emory .......... 15
`Gabe Ortiz, Luke: DACA “Gave Me a New Faith,
`and Brought Out a New Me to Reject Fear”,
`AMERICA’S VOICE (Dec. 9, 2016) .......................... 9
`George Washington University, Apply to GW ......... 7
`Greg Lee, Undocumented Santa Ana Scholar
`Accepted to Harvard Medical School,
`ABC NEWS (June 16, 2016) ............................... 21
`Harvard College Admissions, What We Look For ... 6
`Harvard College Financial Aid Office, How Aid
`Works ................................................................... 7
`Harvard University, The Charter of the
`President and Fellows of Harvard College,
`Under the Seal of the Colony of
`Massachusetts Bay, and Bearing the Date
`May 31st A.D. 1650 ............................................. 5
`Institute for Immigration, Globalization, &
`Education, In the Shadows of the Ivory
`Tower: Undocumented Undergraduates
`and the Liminal State of Immigration
`
`
`
`

`

`iv
`TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
`(continued)
`
`Page(s)
`Reform (2015) .................................................... 10
`Jake Miller, White Coats for DACA, HARVARD
`MED. SCH. NEWS (Sept. 14, 2017) ..................... 22
`Jin Park, I'm a Dreamer and a Rhodes
`Scholar. Where Do I Belong?, THE N.Y. TIMES
`(Jan. 11, 2019) ................................................... 11
`L. Rafael Reif, President of MIT, Trump
`Should Not Repeal DACA, BOSTON GLOBE
`(Aug. 31, 2017) .............................................. 4, 19
`Laura Anthony, Two Years Later, Tania
`Chairez Still ‘Undocumented and
`Unapologetic’, DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN
`(Apr. 17, 2014) ................................................... 18
`Letter from Caltech President Thomas F.
`Rosenbaum to The Caltech Community
`(Sept. 5, 2017) ..................................................... 3
`Letter from Cornell University President
`Martha E. Pollack to President Donald J.
`Trump (Aug. 31, 2017) ........................................ 3
`Letter from Harvard University President
`Drew Gilpin Faust to President Donald
`J. Trump Regarding DACA
`(Aug. 28, 2017) .............................................. 3, 22
`Letter from Washington University in St. Louis
`Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton to President
`Donald J. Trump (Sept. 1, 2017) ........................ 3
`
`
`
`
`
`

`

`v
`TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
`(continued)
`
`Page(s)
`Liz Mineo, Ask the Undocumented, HARVARD
`GAZETTE (May 4, 2017) ..................................... 11
`MIT Student Financial Services, Making MIT
`Affordable ............................................................ 7
`MIT, MIT Mission .................................................... 6
`New York University Admission, Undocumented
`Students .............................................................. 7
`Northwestern University, About the Global
`Learning Office ................................................. 15
`Penn for Immigrant Rights, Founders
`Statement .......................................................... 18
`Roberto Torres, These 3 Companies Are Coming
`to the Pennovation Center, TECHNICAL.LY
`(June 30, 2016) .................................................. 21
`Santiago Tobar Potes, DACA Student: Deporting
`Me and 800,000 Dreamers Is a Man-Made
`Disaster That Will Be Terrible for US,
`FOX NEWS (Sept. 5, 2017) .................................... 8
`Stanford University, The Founding Grant with
`Amendments, Legislation, and Court Decrees
`(1885) ................................................................... 5
`Stephanie Leutert, Undocumented in the Ivy
`League, AM. Q. (May 5, 2015) ........................... 10
`Teach for America, DACA Recipients .................... 20
`
`
`
`
`
`

`

`vi
`TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
`(continued)
`
`Page(s)
`
`Troy Parks, Med Student ʻDreamersʼ Speak
`Out on Maintaining DACA Protections,
`AMA WIRE (Feb. 13, 2017) ................................ 21
`Vanderbilt University, About the Global
`Education Office................................................ 15
`Yale Admissions, What Yale Looks For ................... 6
`
`
`
`
`

`

`1
`INTEREST OF AMICI1
`Amici are nineteen distinguished American insti-
`tutions of higher education. 2 Though important dif-
`ferences exist among them, amici share a common
`mission to educate the next generation of leaders with
`the talent, creativity and drive to solve society’s most
`pressing problems. In furtherance of that objective,
`amici have admitted undocumented students who
`benefitted from the protections and opportunities pro-
`vided by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival
`(“DACA”) program. Like their classmates, the DACA
`students on amici’s campuses make enormous contri-
`butions to our educational institutions and our coun-
`try.
`The colleges and universities that are signatories
`to this brief have an interest in each of their undocu-
`mented students’ welfare and ability to obtain a full
`and complete higher education. Amici also have an
`
`1 Pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 37.6, counsel for amici
`state that no counsel for a party authored this brief in whole or
`in part, and no person other than amici or their counsel made
`any monetary contribution intended to fund the preparation or
`submission of this brief. Pursuant to Supreme Court Rule
`37.3(a), all parties have provided blanket consent to the filing of
`amicus curiae briefs.
`2 They include Brown University, California Institute of
`Technology (“Caltech”), Columbia University, Cornell Univer-
`sity, Dartmouth College, Duke University, Emory University,
`Georgetown University, George Washington University, Har-
`vard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (“MIT”),
`New York University, Northwestern University, Stanford Uni-
`versity, the University of Chicago, the University of Pennsylva-
`nia, Vanderbilt University, Washington University in St. Louis,
`and Yale University.
`
`
`
`

`

`2
`interest in ensuring that when these students gradu-
`ate, they are able to put their education to its highest
`use. The Department of Homeland Security’s Sep-
`tember 5, 2017 Memorandum jeopardizes amici’s in-
`terests by harming their students.
`INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY OF
`ARGUMENT
`Amici institutions have educated and helped
`launch the careers of many celebrated leaders and in-
`novators in all fields, including more than 200 Nobel
`Prize recipients, half of the astronauts who have
`walked on the moon, dozens of Fortune 500 CEOs,
`and numerous Academy Award and Pulitzer Prize-
`winning artists and authors. Every day, amici’s
`alumni can be found teaching in our schools, perform-
`ing cutting-edge research, discovering ground-break-
`ing technology, healing patients in our hospitals,
`starting businesses, leading our armed forces, and re-
`porting on current events for local and global news
`outlets. This is no coincidence, but a reflection of
`amici’s principal objective: To improve the human
`condition by educating the next generation of people
`with the talent, drive, and heart needed to identify
`and solve society’s most pressing problems.
`To further this mission, all amici institutions have
`admitted students who have applied for and been
`granted relief from removal under the DACA pro-
`gram. “[L]ike their peers,” the DACA students on
`amici’s campuses “are extraordinarily talented young
`people who . . . aspire to be leaders in public service,
`science, business, medicine, and the arts. They em-
`body the drive and determination that has made the
`United States the most prosperous and innovative
`
`
`
`

`

`3
`country in the world.”3 And by virtue of DACA—
`which protects certain undocumented immigrants
`from near-term deportation, allows them to work law-
`fully, and enables them to travel abroad—these stu-
`dents have been able for the first time to access edu-
`cational and life opportunities on nearly equal terms
`with their peers.
`If permitted to enter into effect, the memorandum
`rescinding the DACA program will preclude the re-
`markable students enrolled at amici institutions from
`obtaining the full benefit of their time on our cam-
`puses. It would also undermine amici’s educational
`missions by threatening their ability to attract and
`educate the most talented young people. 4 Indeed,
`ending DACA would force future scholars, innovators,
`
`3 Letter from Harvard University President Drew Gilpin
`Faust to President Donald J. Trump Regarding DACA (Aug. 28,
`2017), https://www.harvard.edu/president/news/2017/letter-to-
`president-trump-regarding-daca. See also, e.g., Letter from Cor-
`nell University President Martha E. Pollack to President Donald
`J. Trump (Aug. 31, 2017), https://tinyurl.com/y4ufuhod (“I be-
`lieve that our DACA students are ‘incredible kids.’ . . . It would
`be more than a shame if you . . . extinguish so many bright and
`productive futures just as they are getting started.”); Letter from
`Washington University in St. Louis Chancellor Mark S.
`Wrighton to President Donald J. Trump (Sept. 1, 2017),
`https://tinyurl.com/y48e7tof (“I believe that abandoning DACA
`would not be in our national interest.”).
`4 Letter from Caltech President Thomas F. Rosenbaum to
`The Caltech Community
`(Sept. 5, 2017), https://ti-
`nyurl.com/y3u5meyq (ending DACA “cuts to the core of what we
`stand for as an educational institution: to identify, attract, and
`support talented individuals, and to create a community where
`students, staff, and faculty alike can learn from each other and
`thrive”).
`
`
`
`

`

`4
`and leaders to choose between withdrawing to the
`margins of our society and national economy or re-
`turning to countries that they have never called
`home. Whatever they choose, their gifts and educa-
`tion will be lost to this nation. Amici therefore urge
`this Court to affirm the decisions below.
`Amici submit this brief to inform the Court about
`their experiences with the DACA students on their
`campuses and to warn of the consequences—to the
`students, amici, and the country—of rescinding
`DACA. At this time of profound challenges—from
`global pandemics and insoluble conflicts, to climate
`change and income inequality—the importance of
`amici’s shared mission of advancing and improving
`the human condition through teaching and research
`comes into sharper focus. To achieve their ambitious
`goals of advancing knowledge and improving our so-
`ciety, schools must be able to identify and educate the
`very best students, and those students must be able
`to work after graduation. Ending DACA would un-
`justly sideline a discrete group of students. As one of
`amici’s Presidents put it, no student—amici’s or oth-
`erwise—should be forced to live in constant fear of
`“losing the opportunities they earned, the communi-
`ties they think of as home, and the nation they love.”5
`Nor should the nation lose the benefits of any stu-
`dent’s full participation in our society.
`
`
`5 L. Rafael Reif, President of MIT, Trump Should Not Repeal
`(Aug.
`31,
`2017), https://ti-
`DACA, BOSTON GLOBE
`nyurl.com/y6wyq239.
`
`
`
`

`

`5
`ARGUMENT
`I. DACA STUDENTS ENROLLED AT AMICI IN-
`STITUTIONS ARE SOME OF THE MOST
`GIFTED AND MOTIVATED YOUNG PEOPLE
`IN THE WORLD
`Amici are united in a core mission: to educate ex-
`traordinary students from diverse backgrounds and
`prepare them for leadership, active citizenship, and
`achievement in every field of human endeavor. Each
`of amici’s schools, to borrow from one, “educates the
`most promising students and prepares them for a life-
`time of learning and of responsible leadership.” 6
`From
`their
`founding
`charters
` to
`their
`7
`current websites,8 these clearly stated educational ob-
`jectives govern how amici “determine for [themselves]
`
`6 Dartmouth College, Dartmouth College Mission Statement,
`https://tinyurl.com/y5mku5ul (last visited Oct. 1, 2019).
`7 See, e.g., Duke University, Indenture of James B. Duke Es-
`tablishing the Duke Endowment, at 24 (1924), https://ti-
`nyurl.com/y4dzoeq2 (calling for courses of instruction in areas
`that “can do most to uplift mankind” and “help to develop our
`resources, increase our wisdom and promote human happiness”);
`Stanford University, The Founding Grant with Amendments,
`Legislation, and Court Decrees, at 24 (1885), https://ti-
`nyurl.com/y69s9ph7 (Stanford University’s “chief object is the
`instruction of students with a view to producing leaders and ed-
`ucators in every field of science and industry”); Harvard Univer-
`sity, The Charter of the President and Fellows of Harvard Col-
`lege, Under the Seal of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, and
`the Date May 31st A.D. 1650, https://ti-
`Bearing
`nyurl.com/yxduz56t (Harvard’s mission includes “the advance-
`ment of all good literature arts and sciences”).
`8 See, e.g., Cornell University, University Mission, https://ti-
`nyurl.com/yymdtgxk (last visited Oct. 1, 2019) (Cornell Univer-
`sity’s “mission is to discover, preserve and disseminate
`
`
`
`

`

`6
`on academic grounds who may teach, what may be
`taught, how it shall be taught, and who may be ad-
`mitted to study.” Sweezy v. New Hampshire, 354 U.S.
`234, 263 (1957) (Frankfurter, J., concurring) (quota-
`tion omitted).
`To fulfill their missions, amici devote substantial
`resources to identifying, recruiting, and retaining ex-
`ceptional young people from around the globe. Of
`course, amici seek students with the scholarship rec-
`ord to excel in their classrooms, but given the great
`number of applications that amici receive—well in ex-
`cess of the number of students they can admit—aca-
`demic merit alone is insufficient for admission. Amici
`therefore undertake an intensive application review
`process to identify those students “who w[ill] make
`the most of the extraordinary resources” they have to
`offer, “those with a zest to stretch the limits of their
`talents, and those with an outstanding public motiva-
`tion—in other words, applicants with a concern for
`something larger than themselves.” 9 Additionally,
`
`knowledge, to educate the next generation of global citizens, and
`to promote a culture of broad inquiry throughout and beyond the
`Cornell
`community”); MIT, MIT Mission, https://ti-
`nyurl.com/yglcbj (last visited Oct. 1, 2019) (MIT’s goal “is to ad-
`vance knowledge and educate students in science, technology,
`and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and
`the world in the 21st century”).
`9 Yale Admissions, What Yale Looks For, https://ti-
`nyurl.com/y2cxrqht (last visited Oct. 1, 2019); see also Harvard
`College Admissions, What We Look For, https://ti-
`nyurl.com/y86n5rv7 (last visited Oct. 1, 2019) (“We seek to iden-
`tify students who will be the best educators of one another and
`their professors—individuals who will inspire those around
`them during their College years and beyond.”); Brown Univer-
`sity, Undergraduate Admission, https://tinyurl.com/y7syjs2m
`
`
`
`

`

`7
`amici have worked to ensure that the most qualified
`students can enroll in their institutions, irrespective
`of their socioeconomic and immigration status.10
`The DACA students at amici institutions were se-
`lected because they are outstanding students. Like
`their classmates, these young people were valedicto-
`rians, student government leaders, varsity athletes,
`inventors, academic award winners, accomplished
`
`(last visited Oct. 1, 2019) (“We will consider how your unique
`talents, accomplishments, energy, curiosity, perspective and
`identity might weave into the ever-changing tapestry that is
`Brown University.”); George Washington University, Apply to
`GW, https://tinyurl.com/y53qu2cn (last visited Oct. 1, 2019) (“We
`are looking to enroll a bright, talented and diverse body of stu-
`dents who will take advantage of the many unique opportunities
`that the university and Washington, D.C., have to offer.”).
`10 Indeed, many of amici provide at least their undergradu-
`ate students complete, need-based financial aid. See, e.g., Har-
`vard College Financial Aid Office, How Aid Works, https://ti-
`nyurl.com/y3zylrq5 (last visited Oct. 1, 2019) (Harvard “meet[s]
`100 percent of [the] students’ demonstrated financial need” of
`undergraduate education irrespective of citizenship status); MIT
`Student Financial Services, Making MIT Affordable, https://ti-
`nyurl.com/y523kn2e (last visited Oct. 1, 2019) (MIT promises its
`undergraduate applicants that once they are admitted, the uni-
`versity is “committed to meeting 100% of demonstrated financial
`need with our aid.”); Columbia Undergraduate Admissions, Un-
`documented Students and DACA, https://tinyurl.com/yyf2p7e5
`(last visited Oct. 1, 2019) (Columbia is “committed to meeting
`100% of the demonstrated financial need of all students admit-
`ted as first-years or transfer students pursuing their first degree,
`regardless of citizenship status”); New York University Admis-
`sions, Undocumented Students, https://tinyurl.com/y3v8zmg3
`(last visited Oct. 1, 2019) (“NYU will not draw a distinction be-
`tween applicants who are US citizens, and those who maintain
`DACA status—or are otherwise undocumented—while deter-
`mining institutional scholarship awards.”).
`
`
`
`

`

`8
`artists, and role models for younger children in their
`communities. And like many of their classmates, they
`are the pride of the neighborhoods in which they grew
`up—“local kids who made good.” To take just a few
`examples:
`• Santiago Tobar Potes, a rising senior at Colum-
`bia University, was a straight-A student in
`high school, scored at the highest levels on
`state and national academic tests, speaks six
`languages and is an accomplished violinist who
`gave free lessons to impoverished youth in his
`hometown of Miami, Florida.11 While at Co-
`lumbia, Santiago has been on the Dean’s List
`every semester. Also, because of DACA, Santi-
`ago has been able to work as a research assis-
`tant in a neuroscience lab and intern for a New
`York State Supreme Court Justice.
`• Anahi Figueroa-Flores is a rising junior major-
`ing in Computer Science at Georgetown. While
`in high school in Colorado, Anahi was a mem-
`ber of the Marine Corps ROTC and served as
`Executive Battalion Commander her senior
`year. When she graduates, Anahi “want[s] to
`pursue a career in software engineering and
`advocacy,” but her “goals remain uncertain as
`they depend on what happens with DACA.”12
`
`
`11 Santiago Tobar Potes, DACA Student: Deporting Me and
`800,000 Dreamers Is a Man-Made Disaster That Will Be Terrible
`for US, FOX NEWS (Sept. 5, 2017), https://tinyurl.com/y6sdxvsr.
`12 This anecdote, along with those discussed infra about Jo-
`han Villanueva, Barbara Olachea Lopez Portillo, Jose Martinez
`
`
`
`

`

`9
`• Luke Hwang, a current PhD candidate in
`chemistry at the University of Chicago, gradu-
`ated from a competitive math and sciences
`magnet high school in Bergen County, New
`Jersey, where he won a number of awards at
`regional science fairs and volunteered as an
`Emergency Medical Technician in his local am-
`bulance corps. Luke was next accepted as a
`University Scholar in the Macaulay Honors
`College at the City College of New York, from
`which he received a Bachelor’s of Science in
`Chemistry. In addition to graduating summa
`cum laude, Luke received an award for obtain-
`ing the highest grade point average of any
`chemistry major.13
`• Johan Villanueva, a rising senior at MIT ma-
`joring in chemical engineering, graduated sec-
`ond in his class from the largest public high
`school in Chicago. In addition to being the co-
`captain of his high school’s Math Team, Johan
`was involved in Homeland Helpers, a student
`group dedicated to assisting the city’s homeless
`population, the Environmental Club, and the
`National Honor Society.
`DACA students’ presence on amici’s campuses is
`all the more notable given the enormous challenges
`that undocumented youth face in order to obtain a
`
`Guevara, Paul Gastello, Dalia Larios, and Stella Linardi, were
`provided by amici for this brief.
`13 Gabe Ortiz, Luke: DACA “Gave Me a New Faith, and
`Brought Out a New Me to Reject Fear”, AMERICA’S VOICE (Dec. 9,
`2016), https://tinyurl.com/y57e944q.
`
`
`
`

`

`10
`higher education. To start, the vast majority of these
`students have grown up in households that survive on
`incomes far below the federal poverty line, and most
`are the first persons in their families to attend col-
`lege.14 Additionally, these students often cope with
`family instability and anxiety relating to their undoc-
`umented status.15 As one DACA student at Yale ex-
`plained:
`[The] challenges . . . start in high school—
`when many undocumented students, see-
`ing no way out of their limbo status, lose
`motivation. Others pick up jobs on the
`side to financially help their families,
`slowly drifting away from their classwork.
`Even for those who remain dedicated to
`their classes, studies show a lack of infor-
`mation regarding university options and
`an inability to obtain financial aid ob-
`structs the path to higher education.16
`Given the significant adversity that DACA stu-
`dents have surmounted prior to even applying to
`amici institutions, it is no surprise that they have also
`
`14 See Institute for Immigration, Globalization, & Education,
`In the Shadows of the Ivory Tower: Undocumented Undergrad-
`uates and the Liminal State of Immigration Reform 7 (2015),
`https://tinyurl.com/y6kvtafm (reporting on a survey of undocu-
`mented students that found “61.3% . . . had an annual household
`income below $30,000” and 67.6% were first-generation college
`students).
`15 Id. at 2 (“[Undocumented youth] are disproportionately
`more likely to grow up in poverty, crowded housing, lacking
`health care, and residing in households where families have
`trouble paying rent and affording food.”).
`16 Stephanie Leutert, Undocumented in the Ivy League, AM.
`Q. (May 5, 2015), https://tinyurl.com/y36yanvr.
`
`
`
`

`

`11
`excelled on amici’s campuses. Jin Park was born in
`South Korea and came to New York City at age 7.17
`Growing up, Park understood that his family was dif-
`ferent: “I knew that my family couldn’t get a car, that
`we didn’t have health care, and that we should avoid
`busy streets, where immigration raids often take
`place[,] . . . but I didn’t quite understand it.”18 In high
`school, a Manhattan hospital rejected him from an in-
`ternship program on that basis. Jin credits DACA
`with giving him the confidence to apply to college to
`pursue his dream of becoming a “doctor to work on
`policies to help the most vulnerable.”19 Indeed, his
`professional goals are an outgrowth of his experience
`growing up undocumented: “When I was 11, I had to
`search online how to treat a burn at home because my
`father had been burned at work and couldn’t go to the
`hospital.”20 A 2018 Harvard graduate and Class Day
`speaker, Jin is the first DACA recipient of a Rhodes
`Scholarship.21 Without DACA, Jin will not be able to
`travel to the United Kingdom to participate in this
`prestigious program.
`
`
`17 Jin Park is a signatory on the amicus brief “Texas V.
`United States Defendant-Intervenors DACA Recipients And State
`Of New Jersey,” submitted in support of respondents.
`18 Liz Mineo, Ask the Undocumented, HARVARD GAZETTE
`(May 4, 2017), https://tinyurl.com/y5ufmbms.
`19 Id.
`20 Id.
`21 Jin Park, I’m a Dreamer and a Rhodes Scholar. Where Do
`(Jan. 11, 2019), https://ti-
`I Belong?, THE N.Y. TIMES
`nyurl.com/y76482pd.
`
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`12
`II. RESCINDING DACA WOULD HARM AMICI’S
`STUDENTS AND ALUMNI, AND DEPRIVE
`BOTH AMICI INSTITUTIONS AND THE
`COUNTRY OF THEIR PROMISE
`A. Ending DACA Would Have a Devastating
`Impact on DACA Students
`DACA students are American in everything except
`immigration status. They came of age in this country,
`excelling in our elementary, middle and high schools.
`Still more, an amazing number of these young people
`have demonstrated their dedication to this country’s
`ideals by actively engaging in its civic life to the full
`extent permitted by law. Even before their arrival on
`our campuses, many of amici’s students and alumni
`led voter registration drives, carried petitions, testi-
`fied before state and federal legislative bodies, wrote
`letters to the editor, and participated in documentary
`film projects. And they continue to do so today—de-
`spite the potential consequences for themselves, their
`friends, and their loved ones. In short, many of these
`young people have engaged in precisely the kind of
`courageous civic activities that are crucial to the con-
`tinued vitality of our democracy.
`While DACA does not provide our students and
`alumni a path to citizenship, it does offer them a
`measure of security and access to opportunities for ed-
`ucational and professional development. As Juan
`Jose Martinez Guevara, a
`rising senior at
`Georgetown, whose goal is someday to “work for the
`government—to help achieve what is best for America
`in the world and to help make the world a safer
`place”—put it:
`
`
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`

`13
`Thanks to DACA, I now have a part-time
`job on campus and can help ease the cost
`of college on my parents. Thanks to DACA
`I can feel safe and confident while travel-
`ing, whether it be to attend school or to
`visit my family. Thanks to DACA I can fo-
`cus on my studies without worrying that it
`may all be taken away from me at any sec-
`ond. I have always thought of myself as an
`American, but it is thanks to DACA that I
`can begin to truly feel like one, too.
`The same goes for Barbara Olachea Lopez Portillo,
`who graduated last spring from Dartmouth, where
`she double-majored in film and media studies and so-
`ciology. Barbara was the valedictorian of her high
`school class in Phoenix, Arizona, the secretary of her
`school’s student government, and an active partici-
`pant in various other extracurricular activities, in-
`cluding Inspire Arizona, an organization that pro-
`motes civic engagement. Relying on her DACA sta-
`tus, Barbara is now pursuing a career in documentary
`filmmaking in Los Angeles.
`Rescinding DACA would wrest from Juan, Bar-
`bara, and hundreds of thousands of strivers like them
`the sense of safety and possibility that they deserve
`and have come to rely on. Regents of Univ. of Cal. v.
`U.S. Dep't of Homeland Sec., 908 F.3d 476, 486 (9th
`Cir. 2018) (“DACA also allows recipients to apply for
`authorization to work in this country legally, paying
`taxes and operating in the above-ground economy. ...
`[H]undreds of thousands of … young people, trusting
`the government to honor its promises, leapt at the op-
`portunity.”); Nat’l Ass’n for the Advancement of Col-
`ored People v. Trump, 298 F. Supp. 3d 209, 240
`(D.D.C. 2018)
`(“Because DHS
`failed to even
`
`
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`

`14
`acknowledge how heavily DACA beneficiaries had
`come to rely on the expectation that they would be
`able to renew their DACA benefits, its barebones legal
`interpretation was doubly insufficient and cannot
`support DACA’s rescission.”); Batalla Vidal v. Niel-
`sen, 279 F. Supp. 3d 401, 431 (E.D.N.Y. 2018)
`(“[E]ducational institutions have enrolled DACA re-
`cipients who, if they lose their DACA benefits, may be
`forced to leave the United States or may see little
`need to continue pursuing educational opportuni-
`ties.”); Regents of Univ. of Cal. v. U.S. Dep’t of Home-
`land Sec., 279 F. Supp. 3d 1011, 1046 (N.D. Cal. 2018)
`(“DACA recipients, their employers, their colleges,
`and their communities all developed expectations
`based on the possibility that DACA recipients could
`renew their deferred action and work authorizations
`for additional two-year periods.”). Through no fault
`of their own, these young people would face the terri-
`fying prospect of having to return to a life in which
`they have little chance of making the best use of their
`hard-earned skills and knowledge, or, worse still, be-
`ing removed altogether and forced to make their way
`in a country that is wholly foreign to them.
`Ending the DACA program also would send a clear
`message to the more than one million undocumented
`children in the United States that the trails amici’s
`students and alumni have blazed lead nowhere and
`are not worth following. That message is antithetical
`to the commitment to equal opportunity on which this
`country was founded, raising “the specter of a perma-
`nent caste of undocumented [immigrants] . . . denied
`the benefits that ou