A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the United States must resume new applications for a program that deferred deportation for undocumented individuals brought to the United States as children.
John D. Bates, a federal judge in the District Court of the District of Columbia, ruled in NAACP v. Donald J. Trump and Trustees of Princeton University v. United States of America that the Department of Homeland Security did not adequately explain the legal judgment it used to determine that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is unlawful.
The DACA rescission memo said the DACA program was not constitutional because it was implemented by the previous administration through executive action after Congress rejected similar proposed legislations.
DACA, enacted by former President Barack Obama in 2012, has helped thousands of undocumented individuals obtain work permits and driver’s licenses in certain states. President Trump announced the program’s end in September, but a January federal court ruling ordered the Trump administration to accept renewals to the program.
Bates ruled that the Department of Homeland Security has to justify its decision to end the DACA program within 90 days, and the agency must resume accepting new applications during that time.
In his decision, Bates cited previous challenges to the rescission of DACA, including the University of California’s lawsuit in which federal Judge William H. Alsup temporarily blocked the Trump administration from ending DACA.