Court temporarily revives DACA applications

WASHINGTON—A federal judge in California ordered the White House on Tuesday to revive part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program while legal challenges move through the courts. U.S. District Judge William Alsup ruled the Trump administration must resume accepting renewal applications for the DACA program. The preliminary injunction allows DACA recipients who failed to renew their status by Oct. 5, 2017, to apply again while courts consider the University of California’s challenge to President Donald Trump’s order ending DACA. Alsup, a Clinton administration appointee, argued the Department of Homeland Security chose to wind down the DACA program, threatening deportation for nearly 800,000 immigrants, without presenting sufficient analysis on the order’s implications. “These individuals had submitted substantial personal identifying information to the government, paid hefty fees, and planned their lives according to the dictates of DACA,” Alsup wrote in his 49-page ruling. “The administrative record includes no consideration to the disruption a rescission would have on the lives of DACA recipients, let alone their families, employers and employees, schools and communities.” Alsup’s ruling came hours after Trump huddled with a bipartisan group of lawmakers to negotiate immigration legislation, including a DACA fix. The president responded to Alsup’s decision in a tweet Wednesday morning: “It just shows everyone how broken and unfair our court system is when the opposing side in a case (such as DACA) always runs to the 9th Circuit and almost always wins before being reversed by higher courts.” The Justice Department would need to appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in order to seek a stay of Alsup’s ruling.