Federal judge from Bayside orders government to reinstate DACA protections

Federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis ordered the Trump Administration to restore the DACA program Friday. Eagle file photo by Charisma Miller

By David Brand

President Donald Trump’s legal assault on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program likely ended Friday when a federal judge from the president’s hometown ordered the administration to reinstate protections for some young immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.

Like Trump, Judge Nicholas Garaufis grew up in Queens — home to more than 1 million immigrants. Garaufis, a Bayside native, built his legal career in the borough, first as a private attorney and then as counsel to former Queens Borough President Claire Shulman from 1986 to 1995.

Unlike Trump, Garaufis’ ruling showed a respect for the rule of law and immigrants’ rights, said Assemblymember Catalina Cruz, who came to the United States without documentation as a child.

It was an important, and fitting, rebuke of Trump’s crackdown on immigrants, she said.

“I think karma works in very strange ways,” Cruz said. “To have someone from [Trump’s] home borough stick it to him in a legal sense was amazing.” 

Garaufis specifically ordered the Trump Administration to post a public notice within three days indicating that the federal government would accept new DACA applications, reversing a July memo from the Department of Homeland Security cancelling the program.

The ruling also extended existing renewals from one year to two years. 

Cruz, a past president of the Latino Lawyers Association of Queens County, said Garaufis’ ruling stood on firm legal ground.

“The legal reasoning would have stood with any judge willing to follow the law and who isn’t concerned about politics,” she said. 

But she said she worried that Americans who have rallied in defense of immigrants under Trump’s explicit crackdown would become “complacent” under Democratic President-elect Joe Biden.

“All this did was bring us back to status quo,” she said. “It’s a non-permanent bandaid to a much bigger problem. It does not create a path to citizenship.”

Creating that path will be up to Congress — a body Garaufis once served. 

He worked as legal counsel to former Rep. Gary Ackerman and an aide Rep. James Scheuer. During his 2000 judicial induction ceremony, he credited ex-Sen. Al D’Amato and ex-Rep. Tom Manton, former chair of the Queens County Democratic Party, with helping him develop his career.

Garaufis spent several years as a member of Queens Community Board 11 and School Board 26, and he formed an organization that led to the preservation of Fort Totten. 

Former Councilmember Mark Weprin said the judge’s recent legal decisions have made him a hero to Queens residents.

“He’s a Greek mensch,” said Weprin, who was sworn-in to office by Garaufis. “He’s a principled guy from Queens. That’s who he is.”