A federal judge in NY ruled Tuesday that the government must restart the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals deportation amnesty, adding more weight to the legal case against President Trump's phaseout of the program just as Congress is debating the fate of "Dreamers" on Capitol Hill.
The ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by AG Healey and a coalition of 16 other attorneys general in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of NY in September 2017 to defend the DACA program.
The program's March 5 expiration date is not set in concrete, however - a San Francisco judge's injunction has at least temporarily blocked removal of DACA protections ordered by Trump late previous year. The latest ruling again orders the administration to process renewal applications from existing DACA recipients, but stops short of ordering the administration to accept new applications from individuals who hadn't been part of the program before.
Garaufis did not dispute that the Trump administration has the authority to end DACA. Alsup explained that the Department of Homeland Security's "decision to rescind DACA was based on a flawed legal premise".
The Trump government has already restarted DACA's renewal proceedings following a similar decision in January by Judge William Allsup in a lawsuit filed by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and state universities.
First, the administration has argued on a legal basis that DACA was unconstitutional and violated both the Administrative Procedure Act and the Immigration and Nationality Act.
In his order, Garaufis acknowledged the Trump administration absolutely has a right to change immigration policies as it sees fit.
McConnell replied: "I'm not trying to dictate to them what they offer". Second, this "erroneous conclusion" relied on the findings in the courts that DACA's sister program, Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents, was legally unsustainable.
Justice Department spokesperson Devin O'Malley said in a statement that the department would continue to "vigorously" defend the administration's decision to end DACA. The Supreme Court has not said yet if it will take the case. "As such, it was an unlawful circumvention of Congress, and was susceptible to the same legal challenges that effectively ended DAPA", O'Malley said.
In a tweet Tuesday, Mr. Trump asserted that Democrats and Republicans must act now to provide legal protections to young "Dreamer" immigrants in the USA illegally.
"The federal government took the odd step of seeking an immediate appeal to the supreme court and this Friday we will know if it accepts it or not", said the lawyer.
