A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to restart the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, marking the fourth district court ruling that has gone against attempts to end the program by the White House. John Bates, a federal judge based in Washington, dismissed as ‘inadequate’ the rationale presented by the administration for closing down the program, on Friday.
The order will not come into effect straight away, with the administration given until 23 August to either restart the program, which began during the Obama administration or to appeal the ruling. The deferred action program protects over 700,000 undocumented immigrants who came to the US while underage from the threat of deportation.
In April, the judge gave the administration 90 days to restart the program. But he stayed the order to allow the administration to present another explanation of why DACA is unlawful, saying that they failed to do so. According to Bates, the Department of Homeland Security failed to deliver a ‘coherent explanation’ on Friday for their opinion, although an appeal from the Trump administration is likely. If they do not appeal, new applications for the program will have to be accepted immediately.
In September last year, Attorney General, Jeff Sessions announced that applications for, and renewals of DACA would stop being processed and that the program would be wound down over the following six months.