US /

Judge Orders Government to Restart DACA

He says decison to end program was unlawful
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Apr 25, 2018 12:51 AM CDT
Judge: 'Capricious' Decision to End DACA Was Unlawful
In this Jan. 21, 2018 photo, demonstrators rally in support of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) outside the Capitol in Washington.   (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

A federal judge ruled Tuesday against the Trump administration's decision to end a program protecting some young immigrants from deportation, calling the Department of Homeland Security's rationale against the program "arbitrary and capricious." US District Judge John D. Bates in Washington wrote that the decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, "was unlawful and must be set aside," the AP reports. Bates wrote that DHS' decision "was predicated primarily on its legal judgment that the program was unlawful. That legal judgment was virtually unexplained, however, and so it cannot support the agency's decision."

Bates gave DHS 90 days to "better explain its view that DACA is unlawful." If the department cannot come up with a better explanation, he wrote, it "must accept and process new as well as renewal DACA applications." DACA allowed immigrants brought to the US illegally as children, known as Dreamers, to stay and work legally under renewable permits. It was officially rescinded in March, but DHS is continuing to issue renewals because of previous court orders. Bates' ruling Tuesday night comes in a pair of cases whose lead plaintiffs are the NAACP and Princeton University. He is the third judge to rule against administration plans to end the program. (More DACA stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X