Casa De Md. v. U.S. Dep't of Homeland SEC.
Casa De Md. v. U.S. Dep't of Homeland SEC.
Opinion of the Court
In 2012, the Secretary of Homeland Security established the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals ("DACA") policy. Under this policy, certain noncitizens who came to the United States as children could receive deferred action-a decision forbearing their removal from the country. Hundreds of thousands of individuals, including *691those who appear as Plaintiffs in these appeals, applied for and received grants of deferred action under DACA.
In 2017, the Acting Secretary of Homeland Security rescinded DACA, which prompted a flurry of lawsuits across the country challenging the action. Plaintiffs in these appeals (a group of individuals and organizations) allege that the government's decision to rescind DACA (and its changes to policies governing the use of information provided by DACA applicants) violates the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, as well as the Administrative Procedure Act ("APA"),
On the government's motion for summary judgment, the district court determined that Plaintiffs' challenges were subject to judicial review, that the rescission of DACA and changes to the government's policies on use of DACA applicant information did not violate the APA, that the constitutional claims were without merit, and that DACA's rescission did not violate principles of estoppel. The court, however, ordered the government (on grounds of estoppel) to comply with the policies promulgated in 2012 on the use of information provided by DACA applicants and enjoined it from altering these policies.
As we explain, we agree with the district court that Plaintiffs' challenges are subject to judicial review. We also agree with the district court that the government's decision to rescind DACA did not require notice and comment under the APA. But the decision nonetheless violated the APA because-on the administrative record before us-it was not adequately explained and thus was arbitrary and capricious. We also conclude that the district court erred in ordering the government to comply with its policies promulgated in 2012 on the use of information provided by DACA applicants and enjoining it from altering those policies.
Given our resolution, we decline, under the doctrine of constitutional avoidance, to decide whether Plaintiffs' Fifth Amendment rights were violated. Nor do we address Plaintiffs' remaining arguments challenging the district court's grant of summary judgment.
I.
A.
Before turning to the record material, some context is in order. The Secretary of Homeland Security is "charged with the administration and enforcement" of the Immigration and Nationality Act ("INA").
Because of the "practical fact," however, that the government can't possibly remove all such aliens, the Secretary has discretion to prioritize the removal of some and to deprioritize the removal of others. Arpaio v. Obama ,
Immigration authorities have granted deferred action and related forms of relief from deportation or removal since at least the early 1960s. See
B.
Turning now to the record material, the essential undisputed facts are as follows. To ensure government resources were not spent on the "low priority cases" of "certain young people who were brought to [the United States] as children and know only this country as home," J.A. 129, then Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano announced in a June 15, 2012, memorandum the policy that has become known as DACA. The DACA Memo made renewable two-year terms of deferred action from removal and authorization for employment available to individuals who came to the United States as children, satisfied certain other eligibility criteria,
To be considered for deferred action under DACA, applicants had to submit to biometric screening and provide extensive personal information to the Department of Homeland Security. The Department informed applicants that the information provided was "protected from disclosure ... for the purpose of immigration enforcement proceedings" unless the requestor met criteria for commencement of removal proceedings or referral to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for a determination whether to commence *693removal proceedings.
The DACA Memo made clear that it "confer[red] no substantive right, immigration status[,] or pathway to citizenship." J.A. 131. DACA recipients, however, were eligible to receive a host of other benefits under preexisting statutes and regulations, including advance parole allowing reentry into the United States after travel abroad, social security benefits, and certain forms of public assistance. See
In November 2014, then Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson announced a separate deferred action policy for certain parents of United States citizens and lawful permanent residents that became known as Deferred Action for Parents of Americans ("DAPA").
A coalition of states led by Texas sued to block implementation of the DAPA policy (and its proposed expansions to DACA) on the grounds that it violated the APA and the Take Care Clause of the Constitution, U.S. Const. art. II, § 3 (the " Texas litigation"). See Texas v. United States ,
In June 2017 (approximately five months after the Trump administration took office), then Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly rescinded DAPA but left in place DACA and the deferred action relief and employment authorizations granted between the issuance of the DAPA Memo and the district court's decision in the Texas litigation.
On September 4, 2017, Attorney General Jefferson Sessions wrote to then Acting Secretary Elaine Duke, advising her to rescind DACA. According to the Attorney General:
DACA was effectuated by the previous administration through executive action, without proper statutory authority and *694with no established end-date, after Congress' repeated rejection of proposed legislation that would have accomplished a similar result. Such an open-ended circumvention of immigration laws was an unconstitutional exercise of authority by the Executive Branch. The related ... DAPA ... policy was enjoined on a nationwide basis in a decision affirmed by the Fifth Circuit on the basis of multiple legal grounds and then by the Supreme Court by an equally divided vote. ... Because the DACA policy has the same legal and constitutional defects that the courts recognized as to DAPA, it is likely that potentially imminent litigation would yield similar results with respect to DACA.[5 ]
In light of the costs and burdens that will be imposed on DHS associated with rescinding this policy, DHS should consider an orderly and efficient wind-down process.
J.A. 379 (internal citations omitted).
The next day, Acting Secretary Duke rescinded DACA and instructed Department personnel to "wind-down" the policy. J.A. 380, 383. The Secretary's Rescission Memo recounts in a "Background" section the DACA and DAPA policies, the Texas litigation, Secretary Kelly's rescission of DAPA, the letter to Attorney General Sessions from the plaintiffs in the Texas litigation, and General Sessions's September 4 letter. The Rescission Memo then states:
Taking into consideration the Supreme Court's and the Fifth Circuit's rulings in the ongoing litigation, and the September 4, 2017[,] letter from the Attorney General, it is clear that the June 15, 2012[,] DACA program should be terminated.
J.A. 383.
The Rescission Memo-which issued without notice or an opportunity for public comment-did not end DACA outright. Rather, it allowed for a case-by-case basis adjudication of initial applications for deferred action and employment authorization accepted by September 5, 2017, and renewal requests accepted by October 5, 2017, from current DACA beneficiaries whose benefits would expire between September 5, 2017, and March 5, 2018.
The Memo stated that the Department would not terminate existing grants of deferred action and employment authorization under DACA "solely based on the directives" in the Memo and would "generally honor" approved applications for advanced parole.
The Department also announced that once an individual's deferred action under DACA expired, information provided by applicants would not be "proactively provided to [law enforcement agencies] for the purpose of immigration enforcement proceedings" unless the requestor met criteria for commencement of removal proceedings or referral to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for a determination whether to commence removal proceedings. J.A. 1142. For individuals whose pending DACA requests were denied, the *695announcement stated that "[g]enerally, information provided in DACA requests will not be proactively provided to other law enforcement entities ... for the purpose of immigration enforcement proceedings" unless the requestor posed "a risk to national security or public safety" or met criteria for commencement of removal proceedings or referral to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for a determination whether to commence removal proceedings. J.A. 1143.
Nearly 800,000 individuals have received deferred action under DACA since its inception.
C.
Plaintiffs' complaint raises a host of challenges to the government's decision to rescind DACA. First, the complaint alleges that the rescission is a substantive rule and thus requires notice-and-comment rulemaking under the APA. Next, it asserts that the government's decisions to rescind DACA and change the way the government proposed to share personal information collected from DACA applicants were arbitrary, capricious, and contrary to law, in violation of the APA, and violated the substantive and procedural due process protections of the Fifth Amendment. Plaintiffs also allege that the decision to rescind DACA violates the equal protection guarantee of the Fifth Amendment. Finally, Plaintiffs say that the government should be equitably estopped from rescinding DACA or using information provided by DACA applicants for immigration enforcement purposes beyond those first announced in 2012, when the government's information-sharing policies were first implemented.
The district court granted partial summary judgment to the government. The court found (contrary to the government's contention) that Plaintiffs' claims were justiciable. Casa De Maryland v. DHS ,
The court, however, granted summary judgment to Plaintiffs on the portion of their estoppel claim pertaining to the sharing of DACA applicant information. The court ordered the government to comply with the policies as originally announced in 2012 and enjoined it from altering these policies.
These appeals followed. We review a district court's grant of summary judgment de novo. Roland v. USCIS ,
II.
We begin with the government's argument that Plaintiffs' claims are not justiciable, an issue we consider de novo. See Bostic v. Schaefer ,
A.
The government contends that Plaintiffs' claims are immune from judicial review *696under
According to the government, § 1252(g) bars review here in two ways. First, noting that the Supreme Court in AAADC observed that § 1252(g)"seems clearly designed to give some measure of protection to 'no deferred action' decisions and similar discretionary determinations,"
Second, the government says that § 1252(g) precludes review because DACA's rescission is an initial "action" in the commencement of removal proceedings. As the government would have it, review of its decision to rescind DACA must await a final order of removal. The Supreme Court in AAADC though "specifically rejected a broad reading of the three discrete actions listed in [§] 1252(g)." Regents ,
And while we accept that § 1252(g)"is specifically directed at the deconstruction, fragmentation, and hence prolongation of removal proceedings," AAADC ,
*697B.
The government argues that another provision of the INA-
Section 1252(b)(9) provides that "[j]udicial review of all questions of law and fact ... arising from any action taken or proceeding brought to remove an alien from the United States under this subchapter shall be available only in judicial review of a final order under this section."
The government's contention that § 1252(b)(9) bars review thus is without merit.
C.
Next, the government contends that judicial review is foreclosed under the APA because the decision to rescind DACA is committed to agency discretion by law. We do not agree.
"Although there is a 'strong presumption' in favor of judicial review of agency action," Speed Mining, Inc. v. Fed. Mine Safety & Health Review Comm'n ,
And while conceding that an agency's expression of a legal interpretation announced in a broad or general enforcement policy may be reviewable, the government says that the decision to rescind DACA is distinguishable because it rested on discretionary enforcement concerns and expressed the Department of Homeland Security's view about the scope of its enforcement authority, not the substantive unlawfulness of the policy. Finally, relying on the Supreme Court's post- Chaney decision in ICC v. Bhd. of Locomotive Eng'rs ("BLE "),
Because the government relies so heavily on Chaney for its argument, we turn to that decision. There, a group of death row inmates petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to prevent the use in lethal injections of certain drugs that the agency had not approved for that purpose.
Without addressing the jurisdictional issue, the Court held that the agency's discretionary decision not to enforce the substantive law was unreviewable under the APA.
Nonenforcement decisions, the Court observed, generally do not involve the exercise of "coercive power over an individual's liberty or property rights," and, accordingly, do "not infringe upon areas that courts often are called upon to protect."
Here, however, the Department of Homeland Security's decision to rescind DACA is not a " Chaney -type enforcement action[ ]." Kenney v. Glickman ,
Major agency policy decisions are "quite different from day-to-day agency [ ]enforcement decisions." Nat'l Treasury Emps. Union v. Horner ,
Accordingly, as courts have recognized, an agency's expression of a broad or general enforcement policy based on the agency's legal interpretation is subject to review. OSG Bulk Ships, Inc. v. United States ,
The government attempts to distinguish this authority, but its efforts are unavailing. It claims DACA's rescission involved discretionary balancing because it was based on concerns about its legality and "litigation risk," a term that appears to *700refer to the likelihood the policy would have been invalidated had it been challenged in the Texas litigation. But the Rescission Memo doesn't identify the "risk" of litigation as a "consideration" on which the Acting Secretary relied in rescinding the policy. Rather, the Memo relies on the Attorney General's conclusion that DACA needed to be rescinded because it was unlawful.
Nor are we persuaded by the government's claim that DACA's rescission rested on the Department's view of the scope of its enforcement authority, not the substantive unlawfulness of the policy. As Judge Bates aptly noted when presented with the same argument, "this strikes the [c]ourt as a distinction without a difference. To say that a particular agency action is 'without statutory authority' is simply to say that no statutory provision authorizes that action; in a sense, therefore, it is a determination of the substantive content of each statutory provision that might plausibly apply." Id. at 232. We, like Judge Bates, "fail[ ] to perceive any meaningful difference between an agency's conclusion that it lacks statutory authority and its interpretation of a specific statutory provision." Id.
The government also relies on the Supreme Court's decision in BLE as further support for the view that Plaintiffs' claims are unreviewable. But there, the Supreme Court held only that "where a party petitions an agency for reconsideration on the ground of material error, i.e ., on the same record that was before the agency when it rendered its original decision, an order which merely denies rehearing of the prior order is not itself reviewable."
For one thing, Plaintiffs here filed a timely challenge to the government's original decision to rescind DACA. BLE doesn't bar review of that type of challenge. Moreover, as the government itself concedes, Appellees' Opening & Response Br. at 19, BLE addressed the scope of judicial review in the context of agency non-enforcement action in an individual case. See Crowley ,
In sum, we hold that Plaintiffs' claims are reviewable.
III.
A.
We turn now to the merits and consider first whether the district court erred in granting summary judgment to the government on Plaintiffs' procedural APA claim. The court determined that DACA's rescission was akin to a policy statement and thus was not subject to notice and comment under the APA. Casa ,
The APA generally requires that agencies provide notice of proposals to create, amend, or repeal a rule
Plaintiffs argue that DACA's rescission required notice and comment under the APA because the Rescission Memo *702is a legislative rule that mandates how Department officials must act and substantively affects DACA recipients. The government rejects this premise, countering that the Memo is a general statement of policy. We agree with the government.
The critical question in distinguishing between legislative rules and general statements of policy is whether the statement "is of present binding effect; if it is, then the APA calls for notice and comment." Elec. Privacy Info. Ctr. v. DHS ("EPIC "),
By contrast, general statements of policy "advise the public prospectively of the manner in which the agency proposes to exercise a discretionary power." Vigil , 508 U.S. at 197,
The Rescission Memo removes a mechanism under which individuals could receive deferred action but places "no limitations" on other lawful enforcement prerogatives of the Department of Homeland Security. J.A. 384. As the district court observed, Casa ,
Additionally, although DACA was rescinded based on the government's view that the policy was unlawful, the Rescission Memo doesn't bind subsequent Secretaries who might disagree with this reasoning or bar the Department from implementing other deferred action policies in the future. Contrary to Plaintiffs' arguments, the Memo doesn't "replace[ ] agency discretion with a new binding rule of substantive law," Mada-Luna ,
B.
We consider next whether the district court erred in granting summary judgment to the government on Plaintiffs' claim that DACA's rescission is substantively invalid under the APA.
1.
The APA requires a reviewing court to "hold unlawful and set aside agency action ... found to be ... arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law."
To comply with § 706(2)(A), an agency "must examine the relevant data and articulate a satisfactory explanation for its action including a rational connection between the facts found and the choice made." Motor Vehicle Mfrs. Ass'n of U.S., Inc. v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. ,
An agency satisfactorily explains a decision when it provides "enough clarity that its 'path may reasonably be discerned.' " Jimenez-Cedillo ,
These principles apply with equal force to a change in agency position. Jimenez-Cedillo ,
2.
Plaintiffs argue that DACA's rescission was arbitrary and capricious because the Department of Homeland Security failed to give a reasoned explanation for the change in policy, particularly given the significant reliance interests involved. We agree.
As we have explained, DACA was rescinded based on the Department's view that the policy was unlawful. But neither the Attorney General's September 4 letter nor the Department's Rescission Memo identify any statutory provision with which the DACA policy conflicts. Cf. Encino Motorcars , 136 S.Ct. at 2127 (rejecting as insufficient agency statement regarding statutory exemption proffered in support of policy change where agency did not "analyze or explain" why statute should be interpreted as agency suggested).
The Attorney General's letter does mention that the Fifth Circuit affirmed the injunction against the DAPA policy on "multiple legal grounds" in the Texas litigation, J.A. 379, and the Rescission Memo cites to this ruling. The Fifth Circuit's ruling was based in part on its determination that the DAPA policy likely ran counter to the INA's "intricate process for illegal aliens to derive a lawful immigration classification from their children's immigration status." Texas ,
The Attorney General's letter also asserts that DACA suffered from the same "constitutional defects that the courts recognized as to DAPA." J.A. 379. The courts in the Texas litigation, however, did not address constitutional claims. And while the Attorney General urged in his letter that his office had a duty to "defend the Constitution" and "faithfully execute the laws passed by Congress," J.A. 379, he does not explain how allowing the DACA policy to remain in effect would violate that duty.
The Attorney General's letter and the Rescission Memo also proffer the concern-based on the Attorney General's determination that the DAPA and DACA policies share the same legal defects-that "potentially imminent" litigation would result in a ruling in the Texas litigation enjoining DACA. Entirely absent, however, is an explanation why it was likely that the district court in the Texas litigation would have enjoined DACA.
Further, the 2014 OLC Opinion outlining the Department's authority to implement the DAPA policy identified "from the *705nature of the Take Care duty" at least "four general ... principles governing the permissible scope of enforcement discretion," J.A. 137-38;
The point is that the Department had before it at the time it rescinded DACA a reasoned analysis from the office tasked with providing legal advice to all executive branch agencies that supported the policy's legality. Yet the Department changed course without any explanation for why that analysis was faulty. Cf. Fox Television Stations ,
Nor did the Department adequately account for the reliance interests that would be affected by its decision. Hundreds of thousands of people had structured their lives on the availability of deferred action during the over five years between the implementation of DACA and the decision to rescind. Although the government insists that Acting Secretary Duke
Accordingly, we hold that the Department's decision to rescind DACA was arbitrary and capricious and must be set aside.
IV.
We turn next to the district court's rulings (1) granting summary judgment to Plaintiffs on the portion of their estoppel claim pertaining to sharing of DACA applicant information, and (2) ordering the government to comply with the information-sharing policies promulgated in 2012 and enjoining it from altering those policies.
"Equitable estoppel is a well-established concept invoked by courts to aid a party who, in good faith, has relied, to his detriment, upon the representations of another." United States ex rel. Humble Oil & Ref. Co. v. Fid. & Cas. Co. of N.Y. ,
In enjoining the government, the district court determined that estoppel "potentially would apply to any use for immigration enforcement of the information collected ... during DACA registrations" because "the Government promised not to transfer or use the information gathered from [DACA applicants] for immigration enforcement." Casa ,
We disagree with the district court. The government did not make such a promise or suggest in any other way that its policies governing the sharing of information provided by DACA applicants would never *706change. Rather, the government warned DACA applicants that information they provided could be used for immigration enforcement where criteria for commencement of removal proceedings or referral to law enforcement for a determination whether to commence such proceedings were met. It also warned that its policies governing the sharing of applicant information could be "modified, superseded, or rescinded at any time without notice" and created no "right or benefit." J.A. 1004. In view of these clear and unequivocal warnings, Plaintiffs could not reasonably believe that the information they provided as part of their DACA application would never be used for immigration enforcement purposes. Cf. Volvo Trucks of N. Am., Inc. v. United States ,
V.
We turn finally to Plaintiffs' constitutional claims, which were dismissed by the district court. We decline to decide whether DACA's rescission violates the Fifth Amendment's due process and equal protection guarantees under the "well established principle governing the prudent exercise of this [c]ourt's jurisdiction that normally the [c]ourt will not decide a constitutional question if there is some other ground upon which to dispose of the case." Escambia Cty. v. McMillan ,
We also decline to decide whether Plaintiffs' Fifth Amendment rights were violated by the policies announced on September 5, 2017, regarding the sharing of personal information from DACA applicants.
VI.
To sum up: We affirm the district court's rulings that Plaintiffs' claims are justiciable and that DACA's rescission did not require notice and comment under the APA. We reverse the district court's ruling sustaining the rescission of the policy as valid under
AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART, VACATED IN PART, DISMISSED IN PART, AND REMANDED
The Office of Legal Counsel, or OLC, is an office within the U.S. Department of Justice that drafts legal opinions of the Attorney General and provides its own written opinions and other advice in response to requests from various agencies within the executive branch. See
In its original form, deferred action was available to individuals who were under age 16 when they came to the United States, were not above age 30, had continuously (Continued) resided in the United States for at least five years preceding June 15, 2012, and were present in the country on June 15, 2012, and satisfied certain other requirements relative to public safety and education or military service.
Separately, the Department noted that the information provided could be shared with national security and law enforcement agencies "for purposes other than removal." J.A. 1004.
The 2014 OLC Opinion concluded that DAPA "would constitute a permissible exercise of [the Department of Homeland Security]'s enforcement discretion under the INA." J.A. 162;
Plaintiffs in the Texas litigation had written to General Sessions in June 2017, requesting that the Secretary of Homeland Security rescind DACA and prohibit new grants and renewals of deferred action. The letter warned that, if the Executive Branch failed to so act, plaintiffs there would amend their complaint to challenge DACA.
The Supreme Court said as much after reviewing a treatise describing the practice of deferred action and litigation that would result when it was not granted. AAADC ,
Accord Regents ,
The government doesn't appear to seriously contest that Plaintiffs' procedural APA claim challenging the decision to rescind DACA is subject to judicial review. Accord Lincoln v. Vigil ,
The government correctly observes that an agency's discretionary decision to enforce the law may be unreviewable under § 701(a)(2). See Speed Mining ,
Our dissenting colleague contends that decisions from the D.C. Circuit supporting our view that DACA's rescission is reviewable don't explain how they can be reconciled with Chaney . Dis. op. at 712-14. We disagree. See Crowley ,
See
Our dissenting colleague notes that Acting Secretary Duke didn't say in the Rescission Memo "that DACA must be terminated or that she lacked the legal authority to enforce DACA or a DACA-like program." Dis. op. at 715. It is true that Acting Secretary Duke wrote only that it was clear DACA "should" be terminated. J.A. 383. Standing alone, however, "should" can express the notion of requirement or obligation. Should , Webster's Third New International Dictionary Unabridged (2002) ("used ... to express duty, obligation, [or] necessity"). Given the Attorney General's evaluation of DACA's legality and the absence of any reference to litigation risk in the Rescission Memo's list of considerations, this use of the word "should" supports our conclusion, ante , at 698-99, 699-700, that the Secretary rescinded DACA based on her view that the policy was unlawful. Contrary to our dissenting colleague's view, our decision today does not intrude on discretionary prerogatives of the Executive Branch (see Dis. op. at 713-14); rather, it "preserves the judiciary's role as the ultimate arbiter of statutory meaning while at the same time affording agencies breathing space to adopt enforcement policies for discretionary reasons," NAACP ,
We accept that agency action doesn't become reviewable simply because "the agency gives a 'reviewable' reason for otherwise unreviewable action." BLE ,
The government has not cross-appealed from the district court's additional determination that all Plaintiffs had standing, Casa ,
The parties don't dispute that DACA's rescission qualifies as a "rule" for APA purposes. See
Accord Regents ,
Plaintiffs also assert that (1) the district court failed to consider evidence of "bad faith" and "animus" underlying the decision to rescind DACA presented in their complaint and (2) the Department's conclusions about DACA's legality are substantively incorrect. Given our disposition, we decline to address these arguments.
The government urges us to consider the June 2018 memorandum from former Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen belatedly proffered by the government as a basis for upholding DACA's rescission. We decline to do so because the memorandum was not part of the administrative record in this appeal. Fla. Power & Light Co. v. Lorion ,
Although the district court found Plaintiffs' due process claims lacked merit, its analysis addressed DACA's rescission, not information-sharing. Casa ,
Plaintiffs also contend that the district court misapplied Fed. R. Civ. P. 56 by failing to (1) afford them a reasonable opportunity for discovery on their claims, (2) consider or address their statement of material facts in dispute, and (3) view the facts in the light most favorable to them. They allege further that the district court misapplied the APA by granting summary judgment to the government without addressing their (Continued) contention that the administrative record was incomplete and by failing to consider evidence of "bad faith and improper behavior" by government officials. Given our disposition, we find it unnecessary to address these issues.
Concurring in Part
The plaintiffs ask this Court to invalidate the rescission of DACA, a seven-year-old program explained at its inception as an act of prosecutorial discretion. The Majority's opinion grants this request, reasoning that the Department of Homeland Security behaved in an arbitrary and capricious manner by giving what my good colleagues decide are faulty legal reasons for rescinding the discretionary policy.
I disagree with the premise that the Administrative Procedure Act permits this review of the Executive Branch's rescission of DACA. Enforcement discretion lies at the heart of executive power. The Executive may decide to prosecute, or not prosecute, an individual or a group so long as the reasons for that decision are constitutionally sound and the decision does not violate or abdicate the Executive's statutory duties. Here, the Executive's proper exercise of that discretion to rescind DACA is judicially unreviewable under the Administrative Procedure Act, regardless of one's view of the policy questions underlying DACA. To hold otherwise permits the Judicial Branch to invade the province of the Executive and impair the carefully constructed separation of powers laid out in our Constitution.
I. Background
The Secretary of Homeland Security is charged by statute with enforcing the nation's immigration laws. See
The Secretary has used this discretion to prioritize the removal of certain categories of aliens and deprioritize others. See, e.g. , Memorandum from Doris Meissner, Commissioner, Dep't of Justice, Immigration & Naturalization Service, "Exercising Prosecutorial Discretion" 7-9 (Nov. 17, 2000) (deprioritizing the removal of aliens who, for instance, resided in the United States for a long time, had little to no criminal history, and had greater ties to the United States than another country); Memorandum from John Morton, Director, Dep't of Homeland Sec., Immigration & Customs Enforcement, "Exercising Prosecutorial Discretion Consistent with the Civil Immigration Enforcement Priorities of the Agency for the Apprehension, Detention, and Removal of Aliens" 2 (June 17, 2011) (deprioritizing the removal of veterans, minors, elderly individuals, pregnant women, and various other groups). On top of these general, department-wide enforcement policies, individual agents have been empowered to exercise enforcement discretion based on specific circumstances. See, e.g. , Meissner Memorandum at 1-2. Just as a highway patrolman has discretion whether to pull over a given driver (and even after pulling someone over, whether to give that person a ticket), immigration *708agents can weigh individual and country-specific humanitarian circumstances when deciding whether to exercise their prosecutorial discretion. See Morton Memorandum at 4.
Relying on this broad enforcement discretion to set enforcement priorities and to guide agents in rendering their individualized enforcement decisions, the Secretary of Homeland Security established the DACA program. Memorandum from Janet Napolitano, Secretary, Dep't of Homeland Sec., "Exercising Prosecutorial Discretion with Respect to Individuals Who Came to the United States as Children" (June 15, 2012). DACA authorized agents to grant deferred action
Two years later, the Secretary expanded DACA by loosening some restrictions and extending the period of deferred action from two years to three. Memorandum from Jeh Johnson, Secretary, Dep't of Homeland Sec., "Policies for the Apprehension, Detention and Removal of Undocumented Immigrants" (Nov. 20, 2014). In the same action, the Secretary also created a new enforcement policy, known as "DAPA," extending "deferred action, on a case-by-case basis," to parents of American citizens and lawful permanent residents. Id. at 4.
Led by Texas, a coalition of states challenged this new policy in federal court, arguing that DAPA (and the DACA expansion) violated the Administrative Procedure Act as well as the President's Article II duty to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed." U.S. CONST. art. II, § 3. The district court preliminarily enjoined DAPA, holding that the Department had "legislated a substantive rule without complying with the procedural requirements under the" APA. Texas v. United States ,
The Supreme Court granted certiorari and directed the parties to brief not only the issues decided by the Fifth Circuit, but also whether "the Guidance violates the Take Care Clause of the Constitution, Art. II, § 3." United States v. Texas , --- U.S. ----,
*709In response, the Secretary rescinded the enjoined DAPA program and DACA expansion. Memorandum from John Kelly, Secretary, Dep't of Homeland Sec., "Rescission of November 20, 2014 Memorandum" (June 15, 2017). And several months later, after Texas threatened to challenge the original DACA policy, the Acting Secretary similarly rescinded DACA. Memorandum from Elaine Duke, Acting Secretary, Dep't of Homeland Sec., "Rescission of the June 15, 2012 Memorandum" (Sept. 5, 2017).
In justifying her decision to rescind DACA, the Acting Secretary referred to the Supreme Court and Fifth Circuit decisions in the DAPA litigation. She also relied on a letter from the Attorney General that asserted that because DACA "has the same legal and constitutional defects that the courts recognized as to DAPA, it is likely that potentially imminent litigation would yield similar results with respect to DACA." Id. at 3-4. The Acting Secretary nonetheless ordered that DACA be wound down in stages over a six-month period. Id.
II. Administrative Procedure Act Review
The plaintiffs primarily contend that the rescission of DACA violates the APA. Because I find that immigration enforcement decisions are committed to the discretion of the Department, I part with my colleagues and conclude that the rescission of DACA is judicially unreviewable under the APA.
A. Discretionary enforcement decisions are presumptively unreviewable.
The APA regulates the decisionmaking process of federal agencies. As such, the statute provides for the judicial review of a "final agency action for which there is no other adequate remedy in court."
Discretion in prosecutorial enforcement is deeply rooted in the Constitution's separation of powers. See, e.g. , In re Aiken County ,
Encroachment by the judiciary into enforcement decisions upsets this constitutional balance. If judges could decide which cases to prosecute, that would combine the role of prosecutor and judge in one branch of government, seriously risking *710individual liberty. See In re United States ,
Though perhaps more often discussed in the criminal context, this broad enforcement discretion also encompasses civil enforcement decisions. See Speed Mining, Inc. v. Federal Mine Safety ,
The nature of civil enforcement discretion led the Supreme Court in Heckler v. Chaney to hold that an agency's nonenforcement decision was presumptively unreviewable under the APA. In that case, the Food and Drug Administration refused to take civil enforcement action against a class of drug manufacturers and others who produced and distributed drugs used by states to perform executions. The FDA explained its decision not to institute any enforcement action as a product of concerns that it lacked jurisdiction to address the use of drugs in such a way. Yet even if it could, the FDA noted that it would decline to exercise jurisdiction over those manufacturers under its inherent enforcement discretion. The Court found the decision to be presumptively unreviewable under the APA because agency enforcement decisions "involve[ ] a complicated balancing of a number of factors," like allocating resources and prioritizing policies, that "are peculiarly within [the FDA's] expertise" and are thus generally unsuitable for judicial review. Chaney , 470 U.S. at 831,
While civil enforcement decisions are presumptively unreviewable, Congress can overcome that presumption by "circumscrib[ing]
*711agency enforcement discretion" through a substantive statute. Chaney , 470 U.S. at 834,
Chaney also noted, without deciding, two other possible bases for judicial review of civil nonenforcement decisions: if (1) the decision was based "solely on belief that [the agency] lacked jurisdiction"; or (2) an agency expressly adopted a "general policy that is so extreme as to amount to an abdication of its statutory responsibilities." 470 U.S. at 833 n.4,
B. The rescission of DACA is not reviewable.
The decision to rescind DACA is precisely the sort of enforcement decision that is "traditionally ... 'committed to agency discretion' " and not reviewable by the courts. Chaney , 470 U.S. at 832,
The Supreme Court has recognized that a "principal feature of the removal system is the broad discretion exercised by immigration officials." Arizona v. United States ,
As a result, with or without DACA, government agents have discretion to grant deferred action in individual cases.
The best argument in favor of reviewability is that DACA itself was something other than an enforcement decision. Once granted, deferred action makes recipients eligible for benefits such as the ability to work legally in the country. These are subsidiary or collateral benefits that arise from other legal provisions not challenged here. See 8 U.S.C. § 1324a(h)(3) (" '[U]nauthorized alien' means ... that the alien is not at that time ... authorized to be so *712employed by this chapter or by the Attorney General."); see also 8 C.F.R. § 274a.12(c)(14). Yet the Fifth Circuit found DAPA reviewable because it "would affirmatively confer 'lawful presence' and associated benefits." Texas ,
But neither side presses such an argument in this case, and for good reason. The government does not because it claims DACA's rescission is unreviewable. Nor do the plaintiffs, because if they did, their case would be much harder on the merits. DACA relied on identified individualized enforcement as a necessary predicate for the program's existence. See The Department of Homeland Security's Authority to Prioritize Removal of Certain Aliens Unlawfully Present in the United States and to Defer Removal of Others, 38 Op. O.L.C. ----,
No other exception makes the plaintiffs' APA claims reviewable. In particular, nothing in the INA overcomes Chaney 's presumption of unreviewability. That presumption "may be rebutted where the substantive statute has provided guidelines for the agency to follow in exercising its enforcement powers." Chaney ,
C. The generalized nature of DACA does not render its rescission reviewable.
The Majority adopts a new exception, contending that general enforcement policies, unlike individual enforcement decisions, are reviewable. While this exception has some support in out-of-circuit precedent, I would reject it.
This exception is grounded in dictum from Chaney , which left open the possibility of review when an agency adopts a "general policy that is so extreme as to amount to an abdication of its statutory responsibilities ." Chaney , 470 U.S. at 833 n.4,
A few cases from the D.C. Circuit seem to stretch Chaney 's dictum to encompass any "general enforcement policy," as opposed to a "single-shot nonenforcement decision." E.g. , OSG Bulk Ships, Inc. v. United States ,
To the extent that the D.C. Circuit has embraced the broad principle that any "general enforcement policy" is judicially reviewable, that principle simply cannot be reconciled with Chaney . There, the Supreme Court held unreviewable the FDA's categorical decision not to take enforcement action against a class of actors (drug manufacturers, prison administrators, and others in the drug distribution chain).
Such a broad exception for "generalized enforcement policies" would also unduly trammel the Executive Branch in carrying out its duties. The head of an agency has every right to exercise enforcement discretion. Standardizing (i.e. , generalizing) how agents use their prosecutorial discretion does not alter its character. Whether the Secretary exercises her discretion over an individual case or provides guidance for how discretion should be applied in a class of cases, the decision is unreviewable as one "committed to agency discretion by law." Under the plaintiffs' view, a line agent's decision not to remove a cancer-stricken alien would be unreviewable, but a front-office policy directing line agents to consider whether an alien is terminally ill would be reviewable. That distinction is untenable. See Perales v. Casillas ,
As anyone who has exercised enforcement discretion knows, supervisory control over that discretion is necessary to avoid arbitrariness and ensure consistency. Supervision through generalized guidance that directs the exercise of enforcement discretion cannot transform the enforcement directive into a reviewable action. To find that discretionary enforcement decisions are unreviewable only when inferior officers exercise single-shot enforcement decisions also brushes aside the separation of powers that the Constitution lays out. The President is empowered by Article II to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed," and thus may hire officers to assist in these duties. But the constitutional responsibility remains firmly at the President's feet, and therefore, the President remains responsible for his subordinates' exercise of executive power.
*714Free Enter. Fund v. Pub. Co. Accounting Oversight Bd. ,
DACA-at least on its face-was just such an unreviewable exercise of supervisory enforcement discretion. It was issued by the Secretary and instructed her subordinates when and how to exercise their discretion, emphasizing that "requests for relief pursuant to this memorandum are to be decided on a case by case basis." Napolitano Memorandum at 2. Such general decisions on enforcement policy, no less than the individual decisions that flow from them, cannot be reviewed by the courts without intruding on the prerogatives of the Executive Branch. And that is necessarily true of DACA's rescission, which merely removed one avenue for exercising individualized discretion. As a result, the rescission is an even less viable candidate for judicial review than is the promulgation of DACA.
D. The Acting Secretary's use of legal reasoning in rescinding DACA does not render her decision reviewable.
The plaintiffs also argue that the Acting Secretary's use of legal reasoning in deciding to rescind DACA makes the decision subject to judicial review. In their view, courts can evaluate legal determinations.
This argument is foreclosed by Supreme Court precedent. The Supreme Court has matter-of-factly explained that there is no "principle that if the agency gives a reviewable reason for otherwise unreviewable action, the action becomes reviewable." BLE ,
Efforts to distinguish BLE factually cannot avoid its holding. In BLE , an agency had refused to reconsider a prior decision on the ground of material error. The Court found that such denials of reconsideration have "traditionally been 'committed to agency discretion by law.' "
Just as in BLE , there is a nonsensical implication in the plaintiffs' position: that the Executive's discretion is more constrained when it gives a "reviewable" reason for its actions than when it gives no reason at all. If the Acting Secretary was wrong about the likely illegality of DACA,
In any event, the Acting Secretary's rescission memorandum was not a mere statement on the legality of DACA. Instead, the memorandum considered various court rulings as well as the Attorney General's letter before concluding that the "DACA program should be terminated." Duke Memorandum at 4 (emphasis added). She did not say that DACA must be terminated or that she lacked the legal authority to enforce DACA or a DACA-like program. And in declaring the rescission of DACA after a six-month wind-down period, the Acting Secretary invoked her statutory authority to "establish[ ] national immigration policies and priorities." Id . The Acting Secretary's legal analysis was only one aspect of her reasoning for rescinding DACA, and, of course, a prosecutor may consider beliefs about the law when setting enforcement policy, see BLE ,
For these reasons, I conclude that the plaintiffs' APA claims are not reviewable and would dismiss them.
III. Constitutional Claims
Because they rule for the plaintiffs under the APA, my colleagues in the Majority decline to address the plaintiffs' constitutional claims. But because I find the plaintiffs' APA claims to be unreviewable, I must briefly address their claims that the rescission of DACA also violates the Fifth Amendment's guarantees of Due Process and Equal Protection.
A. Due Process
The plaintiffs' due process claim fails to articulate a constitutionally protected life, *716liberty, or property interest impacted by the rescission of DACA. And without a protected interest, there can be no unconstitutional deprivation.
The Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment guarantees that "[n]o person shall ... be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." U.S. CONST. amend. V, cl. 4. A plaintiff raising a due process claim must thus begin by identifying a relevant liberty or property interest. Wooten v. Clifton Forge Sch. Bd. ,
While the plaintiffs argue that DACA created such a claim of entitlement, it did not. On its face, DACA explicitly conferred no protected property or liberty interest, making deferred action putatively available on a discretionary case-by-case basis for two-year periods that could be terminated at any time at the Secretary's discretion. See Napolitano Memorandum at 2-3; AAADC ,
The plaintiffs may have serious concerns about our nation's immigration laws and the Department's policy of enforcing those laws. But an understandable policy concern is not a legally cognizable right. The rescission of DACA simply does not generate a due process claim.
B. Equal Protection
The plaintiffs also argue that the rescission of DACA violates the Fifth Amendment's guarantee of equal protection by targeting a class of aliens for removal based on their race and national origin. See Bolling v. Sharpe ,
As both parties acknowledge, DACA is an enforcement policy, and so the plaintiffs' challenge to its rescission is necessarily a selective-prosecution claim.
Here, both DACA and its rescission are, on their face, neutral policies. Logically, the presumption of lawfulness that applies in individual selective-prosecution cases is at least as strong when applied to neutral policies promulgated by senior Executive Branch officials. And the plaintiffs must allege facts that, if true, plausibly suggest that this presumption can be overcome and replaced with an inference of outrageous discrimination.
The plaintiffs have alleged two sets of facts to support their claim of discrimination. First, they argue that since 93% of DACA recipients are Latino, the program's rescission had a disparate impact. A selective-prosecution claim normally requires differential treatment of "similarly situated individuals of a different race." Armstrong ,
Second, the plaintiffs rely on presidential campaign tweets, which they claim show invidious animus. But the plaintiffs must create a plausible inference that the same animus allegedly underlying these statements also motivated the Attorney General and the Acting Secretary to take the official government actions at issue. Their complaint simply lacks the connective tissue required to draw that inference. There is also an "obvious alternative explanation" for these officials' actions. Ashcroft v. Iqbal ,
In short, the plaintiffs have presented no evidence that racial motivations played any part in either the former Attorney General's advice or the former Acting Secretary's decision to rescind DACA. Therefore, I would dismiss the equal protection claim.
IV. Information-Sharing Policy
The Majority is correct that the plaintiffs' estoppel claim against the Department *718is baseless. The availability of equitable estoppel against the government is controversial under any circumstances. See Office of Pers. Mgmt. v. Richmond ,
In any case, the mere fact that the Department explicitly told applicants that its information-sharing policy "may be modified, superseded, or rescinded at any time" and that the policy "may not be relied upon to create any right or benefit," J.A. 1004, is enough to end our analysis. There was nothing for the plaintiffs to rely on for the proposition that their information was immune from disclosure.
Additionally, even if the doctrine of estoppel applied here, that would not justify the district court's nationwide injunction. See Gill v. Whitford , --- U.S. ----,
* * *
We in the Judicial Branch have a narrowly circumscribed role. It is not our place to second-guess the wisdom of the discretionary decisions made by the other Branches. The rescission of DACA was a controversial and contentious decision, but one that was committed to the Executive Branch. For this reason, I respectfully dissent.
"Deferred action" means "an act of administrative convenience to the government which gives some cases lower priority." 8 C.F.R. § 274a.12(c)(14).
In finding DAPA subject to review under the APA, the Fifth Circuit held that deferred action "is much more than nonenforcement." Texas ,
The plaintiffs' constitutional claims are, of course, reviewable, and I address them separately below.
The supervisory use of prosecutorial discretion is not a novel phenomenon. See, e.g. , Treasury Department Circular to the Supervisors of the Revenue (Sept. 30, 1791), in 9 Papers of Alexander Hamilton 248-49 (Harold C. Syrett ed., 1965) (advising Treasury officials that "a great relaxation appears unavoidable" in enforcing provisions for seizing spirits without required certificates); Ruth Wedgewood, The Revolutionary Martyrdom of Jonathan Robbins ,
Evaluating the actual legality of DACA requires considering whether and how a court may adjudicate an alleged violation of the Take Care Clause. See Kendall v. United States ex rel. Stokes , 37 U.S. (12 Pet.) 524, 613,
Of course, courts may review the exercise of enforcement discretion for compliance with the Constitution. See Armstrong ,
The plaintiffs assert that they are not claiming selective prosecution "but instead that the Government violated the Equal Protection Clause by rescinding the DACA program in order to target a class defined by race and national origin." Appellants' Response Brief at 30. This attempted rewording makes no difference. The rescission of DACA reset the agency's enforcement policies to no longer channel the exercise of enforcement discretion in a certain way. As the plaintiffs cannot dispute that the government has the statutory authority to enforce the immigration laws against them, any equal protection claim in this context must necessarily be a selective-prosecution claim.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- CASA DE MARYLAND; Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA); Fair Immigration Movement (FIRM); One America; Promise Arizona; Make the Road Pennsylvania; Michigan United ; Arkansas United Community Coalition; Junta for Progressive Action, Inc. ; Angel Aguiluz; Estefany Rodriguez; Heymi Elvir Maldonado; Nathaly Uribe Robledo; Eliseo Mages; Jesus Eusebio Perez; Josue Aguiluz; Missael Garcia; Jose Aguiluz; Maricruz Abarca; Annabelle Martines Herra; Maria Joseline Cuellar Baldelomar; Brenda Moreno Martinez; Luis Aguilar; J.M.O., a Minor Child; Adriana Gonzales Magos, Next of Friend to J.M.O.; A.M., a Minor Child; Isabel Cristina Aguilar Arce, Next of Friend to A.M., Plaintiffs - Appellants, v. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY; U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; U.S. Customs and Border Protection; Donald J. Trump, in His Official Capacity as President of the United States; William P. Barr, in His Official Capacity as Attorney General of the United States; Elaine C. Duke, in Her Official Capacity as Acting Secretary of Homeland Security; L. Francis Cissna, in His Official Capacity as Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services; Ronald D. Vitiello, in His Official Capacity as Acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Kevin K. McAleenan, in His Official Capacity in His Official Capacity as Acting Commissioner of Custom and Border Protection; United States of America, Defendants - Appellees. Casa De Maryland; Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA); Fair Immigration Movement (FIRM); One America; Promise Arizona; Make the Road Pennsylvania; Michigan United ; Arkansas United Community Coalition; Junta for Progressive Action, Inc. ; Angel Aguiluz; Estefany Rodriguez; Heymi Elvir Maldonado; Nathaly Uribe Robledo; Eliseo Mages; Jesus Eusebio Perez; Josue Aguiluz; Missael Garcia; Jose Aguiluz; Maricruz Abarca; Annabelle Martines Herra; Maria Joseline Cuellar Baldelomar; Brenda Moreno Martinez; Luis Aguilar; J.M.O., a Minor Child; Adriana Gonzales Magos, Next of Friend to J.M.O.; A.M., a Minor Child; Isabel Cristina Aguilar Arce, Next of Friend to A.M., Plaintiffs - Appellees, v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security; U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; U.S. Customs and Border Protection; Donald J. Trump, in His Official Capacity as President of the United States; William P. Barr, in His Official Capacity as Attorney General of the United States; Elaine C. Duke, in Her Official Capacity as Acting Secretary of Homeland Security; L. Francis Cissna, in His Official Capacity as Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services; Ronald D. Vitiello, in His Official Capacity as Acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Kevin K. McAleenan, in His Official Capacity in His Official Capacity as Acting Commissioner of Custom and Border Protection; United States of America, Defendants - Appellants.
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