A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to fully restore an Obama era program designed to shield young, undocumented immigrants from deportation, which might just be one last slap in the face to #45’s battling effort to the finish the protections.
The program, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), was created by President Barack Obama in 2012. Over the years, it has protected more than 700,000 people, known as “dreamers,” who met a series of requirements for eligibility.
U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis in Brooklyn, New York, directed the Department of Homeland Security to post by Monday a public notice that it will accept petitions for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which hasn’t accepted new applicants since 2017.
In June, the Supreme Court blocked the administration from ending the initiative that shields hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants from deportation and lets them seek jobs. The high court said the administration didn’t adequately consider its options or the implications before rescinding DACA.
At a hearing in August, Judge Garaufis discussed the long history of the litigation over DACA, saying, “this has remained unresolved and 700,000 plus people are directly affected.”
Officials at the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday night.
