'Good News!' Supreme Court Rejects Trump's Challenge to DACA Ruling

Immigrant rights advocates have taken to the streets in recent months in response to the Trump administration's crackdowns on undocumented residents. (Photo: Molly Adams/flickr/cc)

'Good News!' Supreme Court Rejects Trump's Challenge to DACA Ruling

"While this is an important development, it is not a long-term solution for all DACA recipients or Dreamers. We need to keep fighting."

In a move celebrated by Dreamers and immigrant rights advocates, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear the Trump administration's challenge to a lower court's ruling that has temporarily blocked the president's efforts to end a program protecting certain undocumented immigrants from deportation.

A week ahead of the March 5 deadline President Donald Trump imposed for congressional action when his administration announced plans to sunset Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) last September, the Supreme Court rejected Trump's request to bypass the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals so the high court could consider a temporary injunction that San Francisco-based U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup issued last month, which halted efforts to end DACA.

The National Immigration Law Center's legal director, Karen Tumlin, took to Twitter to explain what the high court's move means for DACA recipients:

"This temporary decision is, nonetheless, a great legal victory on behalf of the DACA recipients, who have been hanging by a thread, wondering if their permits would expire in a week," said Mi Familia Vota executive director Ben Monterroso. "By requiring the administration to first take its case through the appeals court, it gives DACA permit holders at least several more months to renew their DACA permits and hold on to their work permits that are allowed under the DACA program."

While advocates were relieved by the news, they also emphasized the urgent need to maintain pressure on members of Congress to deliver a lasting solution for Dreamers without the immigration enforcement concessions that the Trump administration has demanded accompany any legislation that would protect undocumented residents from deportation or offer a pathway to U.S. citizenship.

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