WASHINGTON: A US judge late Tuesday blocked President Donald Trump fromending an Obama-era program that protected from deportation migrants whoentered America illegally as children.
The ruling came hours after Trump presided over a high-profile White Housemeeting with lawmakers from both parties on the fate of so-called Dreamers.
Judge William Alsup in San Francisco issued his 49-page ruling ordering theadministration to reinstate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivalsprogram, known popularly as DACA.
The government is “HEREBY ORDERED AND ENJOINED, pending final judgmentherein or other order, to maintain the DACA program on a nationwide basison the same terms and conditions as were in effect before the rescission,”he wrote.
Alsup said the Department of Justice´s view that the program was illegalwas based on a “flawed legal premise.”
Unless his order is overturned by a higher court, DACA recipients will nowbe eligible to submit renewal applications and the government will berequired to “post reasonable public notice” that the program is once againactive.
The so-called Dreamers were protected from deportation under the policyenacted in 2012 during Barack Obama´s presidency.
In September, Trump said he was scrapping the DACA program but delayedenforcement to give Congress six months — until March — to craft alasting solution.´A bill of love´
The government was sued on grounds that ending the program was arbitraryand done without following proper legal procedures.
Judge Alsup wrote Tuesday that he questioned the administration´s argumentthat DACA had not been implemented legally.
Alsup said DACA must be resurrected while the legal challenge to itproceeds.
Earlier Tuesday, Trump had taken command of the White House meeting to coaxRepublican and Democratic lawmakers toward a compromise on the fate ofDreamers.
He also signaled he was open to more comprehensive immigration reform toaddress millions of other undocumented people living in the shadows, aslong as Democrats are willing to countenance greater border security,including a controversial wall along the Mexican border.
“It should be a bill of love,” Trump said of a measure under negotiationthat would protect hundreds of thousands of Dreamers from deportation.
“But it also has to be a bill where we´re able to secure our border. Drugsare pouring into our country at a record pace. A lot of people are comingin that we can´t have,” Trump added, urging lawmakers to “put countrybefore party” and strike a quick solution.
– ´Take the heat´ –
Trump, seated at a long table with some two dozen lawmakers from the Houseand Senate, presided over the bipartisan talks, allowing journalists rareaccess to nearly an hour of the meeting.
The president said he would “take the heat” politically if lawmakers wereto move toward broader action that would provide a pathway to citizenshipfor about 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States.
“You are not that far away from comprehensive immigration reform,” he toldSenator Lindsey Graham, after the Republican lawmaker floated the idea ofmore sweeping legislation.
“You created an opportunity here, Mr President, and you need to close thedeal,” Graham told him as TV cameras rolled.
Trump´s position appeared at odds with his 2016 campaign, when his platformfocused largely on border security and immigration curtailment, and many ofhis core supporters raged at the prospect of legalizing millions ofundocumented immigrants.