Supreme Court rules in favor of ‘Dreamers,’ says Trump can’t end DACA without justification

The Trump administration can’t shut down the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program without better justification, the Supreme Court has ruled, nullifying one of the president’s signature actions on immigration.

Trump’s Department of Homeland Security failed to provide an adequate reason for shutting down the program when it declared an end to DACA in 2017, the court ruled on Thursday. The Obama-era initiative has allowed almost 800,000 young immigrants who arrived in the US illegally as children to remain in the country.

The decision represents a serious defeat to one of the president’s chief accomplishments on immigration, which was a central issue in his 2016 campaign. However, Trump has the option of presenting a more detailed justification for shutting down the program.

When the president initially pulled the plug on DACA in 2017, it was with the aim of forcing Congress to act to save the program, which would have – in the eyes of the Trump administration – given legislative legitimacy to the blanket amnesty it offered. DACA was imposed via executive order by former president Barack Obama, and then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions had repeatedly denounced the program as an unconstitutional end-run around immigration laws.

The program allows children of illegal immigrants to remain in the US if they were under 16 when they were brought to the US, as long as they arrived before 2007. DACA supporters argue the program has allowed participants to live better lives and move up the social ladder by accessing programs and resources that are not available to non-citizens.

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