U.S. District Judge William Alsup has issued an injunction ordering the Trump administration to revive part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, Associated Press reports. The administration ended the program last year. The judge called the decision of the administration to end the program “arbitrary” and “capricious,” according to NBC News.
Followed by the decision of the Trump administration to end the program, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that it will stop accepting applications filed by DACA recipients to renew their deferred action status and their work permits. This program has been protecting children brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents from deportation, since 2012, the year in which DACA was implemented by the former President Barack Obama.
On September 5, 2017, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the decision of the Trump Administration to end the DACA program. He said that DACA renewal applications will not be accepted after October 5, 2017. A lot of lawsuits were filed against the Trump administration for ending the DACA program.
Alsup considered and ruled on five lawsuits filed by California, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and by the governing board of the University of California school system. The judge said that the administration failed to take into account the impact that the termination of the DACA program will have on the DACA recipients and their families.
The injunction orders the DHS to resume accepting applications to renew DACA from those who have already received deferred action status. However, the ruling is limited. The DHS doesn’t have to accept applications for initial DACA.
This ruling came after President Donald Trump and the congressional leaders of both parties met at the White House. They met to discuss the DACA program and other immigration issues. They sought a bipartisan deal so that they could avoid a government shutdown that could occur in 10 days.
