From the brief’s introductory passage:
Imbued with the spirit of the American dream, and in reliance on the DACA program, enrollees have made substantial investments in themselves, their families, and their communities. Contrary to the government’s assertion in its brief to this Court (e.g., Pet. Br. 46), the DACA enrollees are not engaged in “ongoing illegal activity” or “ongoing violation of federal law.” To the contrary, under DACA and with the government’s permission, enrollees are legally engaged in educational, tax-paying, teaching, and military activities. See, e.g., Case No. 18-589 Pet. App. 115a (“[H]undreds of thousands of DACA recipients and those close to them planned their lives around the program.”).
Without any consideration for these substantial reliance interests engendered by DACA over the last several years, the Department abruptly terminated the program. In doing so, the government upended the lives of nearly 700,000 productive young adults, their families, and their communities. These DACA recipients, in an effort to play by the rules, came out of the shadows to enroll in the program.
The APA’s requirements are designed to protect against arbitrary and capricious reversals or terminations of policies and programs that induce serious reliance interests of the type found here. With the government’s encouragement, DACA enrollees invested in job-specific training programs, enrolled in universities, obtained jobs as educators, purchased homes, and enlisted in the military in service of our country. In turn, educational institutions, local communities, and employers invested in and have come to rely on the substantial benefits provided by DACA enrollees. Yet the administrative record is void of any mention, let alone consideration of these interests.