Photo: Daderot/Wikimedia Commons
The Supreme Court Monday declined to review a federal judge’s order that the Trump Administration continue the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, meaning the measure – which protects individuals brought to the United States as children – remains in place for now.
The case will now run its normal legal course through a federal appeals court in California, which the Supreme Court assumes would “proceed expeditiously.”
Monday’s development in the case coincides with reconvening of Congress, which had been asked by President Donald Trump to come up with a legislative solution to DACA program before March 5.
The Trump Administration deems DACA as an unconstitutional step by the Obama Administration since it did not go through Congress.
“We will continue to defend DHS’ lawful authority to wind down DACA in an orderly manner,” Department of Justice spokesman Devin O’Malley said in a statement Monday, according to a report in USA Today.
Meanwhile, according to a report in The Hill, a White House said the DACA program is “clearly unlawful” and benefits “illegal immigrants en masse.”
“The district judge’s decision unilaterally to re-impose a program that Congress had explicitly and repeatedly rejected is a usurpation of legislative authority,” Spokesperson Raj Shah said.
President Trump, who suspended the program last year, has said he would be willing to allow the DACA beneficiaries – known as dreamers – to live in the United States with the possibility of a path to citizenship, if Congress approves funding for his plan to build a wall along U.S.-Mexican border and make changes to the immigration system.
Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of individuals who were brought to the United States without any legal immigration documentation, await their future.
