Trump’s Plan to Dismantle DACA Just Hit a Major Setback

The Trump administration now has 90 days to respond.

Demonstrators at a march supporting Dreamers in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Doug Strickland/Chattanooga Times Free Press via AP

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A federal judge in Washington, DC, just dealt a major blow to the Trump administration’s plans to end protections for undocumented immigrants who entered the United States as children.

In an order issued Tuesday evening, US District Judge John D. Bates called the decision to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, “arbitrary and capricious,” and ordered the Trump administration to continue the program and accept new applications. The judge gave the administration 90 days to defend its decision before the ruling would take effect. 

Bates wrote that the administration failed to adequately explain why it believes the program was unlawful, and that its “meager legal reasoning” and the Department of Homeland Security’s assessment of litigation risk was not a sufficient reason to sustain the program’s termination.

He is the third judge to rule against the Trump administration’s decision to rescind DACA, according to the Washington Post

Read the full decision below.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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