The DACA Program Must Resume And Accept New Applications, Rules A Federal Judge

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President Trump recently celebrated Easter by tweeting that the U.S. “NEED WALL” and cheering the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program once and for all, despite the Supreme Court’s recent refusal to quickly address the fate of undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children. Therefore, it’s safe to assume that Trump is not pleased about the biggest immigration-related setback yet against the Trump administration after a federal judge laid down the law on Dreamers.

That is to say, a federal judge (and not the first one) blocked the Trump administration from ending DACA in February, but this didn’t stop the federal government from officially rescinding the program in March. This placed the fate of around 700,000 undocumented immigrants into limbo, but in the meantime, the program still accepted renewal applications. The New York Times now reports that a federal court has pretty much reinstated DACA:

[A] federal judge ruled Tuesday that the government must resume accepting new applications.

Judge John D. Bates of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia said the government’s decision to end the program, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, was predicated on the “virtually unexplained” grounds that the program was “unlawful.”

Judge Bates also ruled that the U.S. government must start accepting new DACA applications in addition to the renewal-based requests, so one can expect the Trump administration to attempt an appeal to the Supreme Court. Before that happens, Bates has decided to allow Homeland Security to “better explain” its argument for ending DACA. Trump hasn’t tweeted about this decision yet, but it’s probably on the way soon.

(Via New York Times)

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