Trump Must Keep DACA Protections for Now, Judge Says - The New York Times

Trump Must Keep DACA Protections for Now, Judge Says - The New York Times

JUDGES ORDERS DACA RENEWALS TO RESUME: A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Tuesday night to resume enrollment renewals in the DACA program, POLITICO's Josh Gerstein reports. San Francisco-based U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup's order temporarily blocks the Justice Department's September rescission of the Obama-era program - a legal development that, unless halted by a higher court, will allow young undocumented immigrants to renew their DACA status. The Homeland Security Department declined to comment, but the administration will surely appeal the decision to the 9th Circuit. 

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in September that the DACA program "was an unconstitutional exercise of authority by the Executive Branch," but Alsup said that finding appeared to be "based on a flawed legal premise," Gerstein reports. Alsup's order wielded some of President Donald Trump's words against him. On the question of whether DACA's continuation would be in the public interest, Alsup cited a Trump tweet a little more than one week after he ended the program. "Does anybody really want to throw out good, educated and accomplished young people who have jobs, some serving in the military?" Trump wrote. "Really!....."

Alsup's order scrambles negotiations between Congress and the White House over codifying DACA. Trump's partly televised meeting Tuesday with members of Congress focused largely on four items: finding a permanent solution for DACA participants, known as Dreamers; border security; family ("chain") immigration; and the diversity visa lottery program. Several attendees left the meeting with the impression that all four policy areas would be covered in a DACA deal. Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), one of the attendees and a principal negotiator in the Senate, said, "we all agreed." The White House said the group ""reached an agreement to negotiate" a bill to deal with the quartet of policy areas.

But that was before Alsup rendered DACA's March deadline at least temporarily irrelevant. Even before the decision came down, other Democrats who attended the meeting insisted there was no agreement. House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) called the White House statement "inaccurate." Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-N.M.) - who successfully crashed the White House meeting - said a DACA fix could be tied to border security, but that family-based immigration and the lottery should be dealt with in comprehensive immigration reform. On the Republican side, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) plans to introduce a conservative DACA bill today with the support of several other members - bucking negotiations sanctioned by Republican leaders. Goodlatte (R-Va.), Michael McCaul (R-Texas), Raúl Labrador (R-Idaho) and Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) laid out their case in a Wall Street Journal op-ed Tuesday.

 Source:  Politico