Trump's restrictions on 'Dreamers' Immigration programme rejected by federal judge

A federal judge in New York, on November 14, rejected Trump administration's limitations on a programme protecting nearly 700,000 so-called “Dreamers,” who are undocumented migrants brought to the US as children. The US district judge Nicholas Garaufis ruled that President Donald Trump’s Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf assumed his position unlawfully. The ruling invalidated Wolf’s suspension of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA), which protects young people from deportation. 

Garaufis said, “DHS failed to follow the order of succession as it was lawfully designated. Therefore, the actions taken by purported Acting Secretaries, who were not properly in their roles according to the lawful order of succession, were taken without legal authority”. 

The recent ruling is another victory of the Obama-era programme after the US Supreme Court in June rejected President Trump’s cancellation of it. An attorney who represented a plaintiff in one the two lawsuits that challenged Wolf’s authority, Karen Tumlin, called the ruling “another win” for DACA recipients and a win for those who have been waiting years to apply for the program for the first time. 

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Wolf’s restriction ‘effectively suspended’ 

As per Chad Wolf’s rules, the new applications wouldn't be accepted and renewals would be limited to one year instead of two. Back in July, Wolf had issued a memorandum effectively suspending DACA, pending review by DHS. Last month, the Supreme Court ruled that Trump failed to follow rule-making procedures when he tried to end the programme, however, the justices kept a window open for him to try again. 

Saturday’s court decision said that Wolf’s restrictions “effectively suspended” DACA, while the Trump administration reviewed how to proceed. The judge also said that DHS didn’t follow an order of succession established when then-secretary Kirstjen Nielsen resigned in April 2019. Back in August, the US Government Accountability Office, which is a bipartisan congressional watchdog, said that Wolf and his acting deputy, Ken Cuccinelli, were improperly serving and ineligible to run the agency under the Vacancies Reform Act. The two have been at the forefront of the Trump administration initiatives on immigration and law enforcement. 

(With inputs from AP)

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