US Appeals Court Rules Against Trump On DACA Immigration Programme

* The court said the Trump administration must continue the
program, which protects hundreds of thousands of Dreamers from
deportation.

A U.S. appeals court in California ruled on Thursday that
President Donald Trump’s administration must continue a program
begun under former President Barack Obama that protects hundreds of
thousands of immigrants who were brought into the country illegally
as children.

The decision by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals preserves the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
(DACA) program introduced in 2012 that has shielded from
deportation a group of immigrants dubbed “Dreamers” and given them
work permits, though not a path to citizenship.

The ruling represented another legal defeat for Trump over DACA,
although he has won court victories on other parts of his hardline
immigration policies.

On Monday, his administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to
review a federal judge’s January decision to block Trump from
ending the program even before the 9th Circuit had weighed in, an
unusually aggressive move in terms of procedure.

Trump said on Wednesday that he saw potential to work with
Democrats, who won control of the House of Representatives this
week, but he would have to see how the Supreme Courtrules on the
issue.

Trump has taken a stern stance against illegal immigration. His
administration announced plans in September 2017 to phase out DACA,
arguing that Obama exceeded his constitutional powers when he
bypassed Congress and created the program. DACA offers protections
to roughly 700,000 young adults, mostly Hispanics, who entered the
country as children.

San Francisco-based U.S. District Judge William Alsup decided in
January the government must continue processing renewals of
existing DACA applications while litigation over the legality of
Trump’s action is resolved. The administration in February
unsuccessfully appealed Alsup’s ruling to the Supreme Court.