A federal judge on Tuesday night temporarily blocked the Trump
administration’s decision to end a program protecting young
immigrants from deportation.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup granted a request by
California and other plaintiffs to prevent President Donald Trump
from ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program
while their lawsuits play out in court.
Alsup said lawyers in favor of DACA clearly demonstrated that
the young immigrants “were likely to suffer serious, irreparable
harm” without court action. The judge also said the lawyers have a
strong chance of succeeding at trial.
DACA has protected about 800,000 people who were brought to the
U.S. illegally as children or came with families who overstayed
visas. The program includes hundreds of thousands of college-age
students.
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced in September that
the program would be phased out, saying former President Barack
Obama had exceeded his authority when he implemented it in
2012.
The move sparked a flurry of lawsuits nationwide.
Alsup considered five separate lawsuits filed in Northern
California, including one by the state and another by the governing
board of the University of California school system.
During a court hearing on Dec. 20, the judge grilled an attorney
for the Department of Justice over the government’s justification
for ending DACA, saying many people had come to rely on it and
faced a “real” and “palpable” hardship from its loss.
Alsup also questioned whether the administration had conducted a
thorough review before ending the program.
Brad Rosenberg, a Justice Department attorney, said the
administration considered the effects of ending DACA and decided to
phase it out over time instead of cutting it immediately.
DACA recipients will be allowed to stay in the U.S. for the
remainder of their two-year authorizations. Any recipient whose
status was due to expire within six months also got a month to
apply for another two-year term.
The Justice Department said in court documents that DACA was
facing the possibility of an abrupt end by court order, but Alsup
was critical of that argument.
People took out loans, enrolled in school and even made
decisions about whether to get married and start families on the
basis of DACA and now face “horrific” consequences from the loss of
the program, said Jeffrey Davidson, an attorney for the University
of California governing board.
“The government considered none of this at all when they decided
to rescind DACA,” he said at the hearing.
DACA recipients are commonly referred to as “dreamers,” based on
never-passed proposals in Congress called the DREAM Act that would
have provided similar protections for young immigrants.
A federal judge on Tuesday night temporarily blocked the Trump
administration’s decision to end a program protecting young
immigrants from deportation.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup granted a request by
California and other plaintiffs to prevent President Donald Trump
from ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program
while their lawsuits play out in court.
Alsup said lawyers in favor of DACA clearly demonstrated that
the young immigrants “were likely to suffer serious, irreparable
harm” without court action. The judge also said the lawyers have a
strong chance of succeeding at trial.
DACA has protected about 800,000 people who were brought to the
U.S. illegally as children or came with families who overstayed
visas. The program includes hundreds of thousands of college-age
students.
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced in September that
the program would be phased out, saying former President Barack
Obama had exceeded his authority when he implemented it in
2012.
The move sparked a flurry of lawsuits nationwide.
Alsup considered five separate lawsuits filed in Northern
California, including one by the state and another by the governing
board of the University of California school system.
During a court hearing on Dec. 20, the judge grilled an attorney
for the Department of Justice over the government’s justification
for ending DACA, saying many people had come to rely on it and
faced a “real” and “palpable” hardship from its loss.
Alsup also questioned whether the administration had conducted a
thorough review before ending the program.
Brad Rosenberg, a Justice Department attorney, said the
administration considered the effects of ending DACA and decided to
phase it out over time instead of cutting it immediately.
DACA recipients will be allowed to stay in the U.S. for the
remainder of their two-year authorizations. Any recipient whose
status was due to expire within six months also got a month to
apply for another two-year term.
The Justice Department said in court documents that DACA was
facing the possibility of an abrupt end by court order, but Alsup
was critical of that argument.
People took out loans, enrolled in school and even made
decisions about whether to get married and start families on the
basis of DACA and now face “horrific” consequences from the loss of
the program, said Jeffrey Davidson, an attorney for the University
of California governing board.
“The government considered none of this at all when they decided
to rescind DACA,” he said at the hearing.
DACA recipients are commonly referred to as “dreamers,” based on
never-passed proposals in Congress called the DREAM Act that would
have provided similar protections for young immigrants.