US judge blocks Trump administration’s move to end ‘Dreamers’ program
11, Jan 2018 | CJP Team
The Guardian reported that a judge barred United States President Donald Trump to from ending a programme authorised by former President Barack Obama that protected from deportation those who were brought to the country illegally as children. US district judge William Alsup ruled that the Trump administration must “maintain the Daca program on a nationwide basis” while litigation continues on Trump’s move to end it. The programme, called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) has permitted almost 800,000 immigrants (called Dreamers) to attend school and work in the US “without fear of deportation since it was authorised” by Obama in 2012, the Guardian said. The current administration in September chose to end the program, leaving Congress to determine the outcome for these Dreamers. According to the Guardian, the move was made public on September 5, 2017, and gave applicants 30 days to respond, so although the program does not end until March 5, 2018. the deadline for renewing applications has lapsed. Judge Alsup ruled that those who previously received Daca protections but did not register prior to the deadline should be allowed to renew their status, the Guardian said. However, Alsup said the government did not have to consider applications from those who have never received Daca protections before. The Guardian reported that, according to a study conducted by left-leaning think tank Center for American Progress (CAP), almost 22,000 Dreamers “did not successfully apply” to renew their status, adding that the researchers projected that an average of 122 Dreamers would “lose their legal protections in the 181 days between” September 5 and March 5. The Guardian said that on the same day as the ruling, Trump met with Democratic and Republican lawmakers, calling on them to formulate a “bill of love” to make Daca permanent and offer Dreamers a path to citizenship, but also repeated his call for a wall along the country’s southern border.
