Greek-American Judge Blocks Trump’s Decision to End DACA

Greek-American Judge Nicholas Garaufis on Tuesday blocked President Donald Trump’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) that protects from deportation immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children.

According to Reuters, U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis in Brooklyn ruled that DACA, cannot end in March, as the administration had planned.

The decision is similar to a January 9 ruling by U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco that DACA should not be abolished while litigation challenging Trump’s decision continues.

The Supreme Court on Friday is due to consider whether to take up the administration’s appeal of the San Francisco ruling, Reuters says.

DACA is more popularly known as the “Dreamers” program and gave legal protection to around 800,000 people who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children.

DACA was created in 2012 giving hundreds of thousands of young adults protection from deportation and work permits.

Garaufis – whose grandparents were Greek immigrants – was quoted by the Associated Press calling President Trump’s statements on immigrants as “vicious”.

The ruling came in lawsuits brought by immigration rights groups and 15 states and the District of Columbia.

According to Reuters, Garaufis said the administration could eventually rescind the DACA program but the reasons it gave last September for rescinding it were too arbitrary and could not stand legally.

The judge ordered the administration to process DACA renewal applications on the same terms as had been in place before the president took his action.