Trump admin appeals DACA ruling, petitions Supreme Court
In a “rare step,” the US Justice Department will petition the Supreme Court to stop a federal court’s injunction against President Donald Trump’s plan to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
US Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Tuesday that not only would the DOJ pursue the normal course of appeals in the federal judicial system, but also petition the Supreme Court.
“It defies both law and common sense for DACA… To somehow be mandated nationwide by a single district court in San Francisco,” US Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement. “We are now taking the rare step of requesting direct review on the merits of this injunction by the Supreme Court so that this issue may be resolved quickly and fairly for all the parties involved.”
Last week, San Francisco-based US District Court Judge William Alsup issued an injunction requiring the administration to resume accepting renewal of applications for the Obama-era DACA program. The DOJ held off on seeking immediate relief of the ruling in the case of The Regents of the University of California and Janet Napolitano v. US Department of Homeland Security.
DACA provides work permits and education opportunities to undocumented immigrants who came to the US illegally as children. President Barack Obama ordered the program into existence in 2012 after Congress failed to pass comprehensive immigration reform.
Trump’s decision to end the program last year led to a call for a legislative fix. The White House had begun to thrash out a deal last week with Democrats and Republicans to provide long-term relief for young undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers, before discussions got mired in Trump ‘s***hole’ comment and bitter accusations.
