A federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled against the Trump administration Thursday, saying the government cannot immediately end the DACA program that gives young undocumented immigrants a chance to continue living and working in the U.S. without the threat of deportation.
The administration had sought to block an injunction from lower courts that temporarily prevented the government from going ahead with plans to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
“The Executive wields awesome power in the enforcement of our nation’s immigration laws,” the ruling said. “Our decision today does not curb that power, but rather enables its exercise in a manner that is free from legal misconceptions and is democratically accountable to the public.”
The ruling comes just days after the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to take over three cases concerning pending lawsuits that seek to preserve DACA.
DACA, which was created under the Obama administration through executive order, gives some illegal immigrants who were brought to the United States as children the opportunity to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and become eligible for a work permit.
Last year, the Trump administration announced its plan to phase out the program, but federal courts have ruled that the phase-out could not apply retroactively and that the program should be restarted.
