Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on Thursday that he “cried tears of joy” over the Supreme Court’s decision blocking President Trump from ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
“I cried tears of joy a few minutes ago when I heard the decision of the Supreme Court on DACA. These wonderful DACA kids and their families have a huge burden lifted off of their shoulders. They don’t have to worry about being deported. They can do their jobs, and I believe … someday soon they will be American citizens,” Schumer said.
Schumer appeared visibly emotional and teared up as he spoke about the Supreme Court’s decision to block the Trump administration from ending an Obama-era program that shields nearly 700,000 young undocumented immigrants from deportation.
“Wow. What a decision. And let me say this. In this very difficult time, the Supreme Court provided a bright ray of sunshine this week. With the decision on Monday preventing discrimination in employment against the LGBTQ community, and now with this DACA decision,” Schumer said, referring to a ruling that workers can’t be fired for being gay or transgender.
“To me, frankly, the Court’s decisions were surprising but welcome and gives you some faith that the laws and rules … of this country can be upheld. Wow. The decision is amazing,” he added.
Schumer appeared ready to turn to a different topic, the GOP police reform bill, but paused as he visibly choked up over the Supreme Court’s decision on the immigration program.
“But again, I cannot — the Supreme Court, who would have thought would have so many good decisions in one week? Who would have thought? Wow,” he added.
Trump announced in September 2017 that he was ending DACA and urged Congress to come up with immigration legislation.
But in a 5-4 decision on Thursday, the Supreme Court found that the administration failed to give an adequate justification for terminating DACA, as required by federal law.
“The dispute before the Court is not whether [Department of Homeland Security] may rescind DACA. All parties agree that it may. The dispute is instead primarily about the procedure the agency followed in doing so,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority.