The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which protects undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children from being deported.
The decision – determined by a 5-4 vote – came as a relief for the Obama-era program’s 650,000+ recipients, who have been in limbo since President Donald J. Trump discontinued the program in September 2017.
The Supreme Court concluded that the president has the power to rescind DACA, but the administration failed to consider “conspicuous issues,” including “what if anything to do about the hardship to DACA recipients,” Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote, which “raises doubts about whether the agency appreciated the scope of its discretion or exercised that discretion in a reasonable manner.”
