Federal Judge Blocks Trump's Drive To End DACA

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A federal judge in California temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s plans to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in a ruling late on Tuesday night.

The nationwide preliminary injunction by U.S. District Judge William Alsup means the Obama-era protections that shield nearly 800,000 immigrants brought to the country as children from deportation will remain in place while the lawsuit is pending.

The lawsuit was brought by the University of California and other groups.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced plans to formally end the program in a September speech, where he called the prospect of deporting young people who have only ever known life in America “the compassionate thing” to do. Sessions also said DACA renewal applications would be accepted until October 5—setting off a mad dash for money and paperwork in a process that turned out to be deeply flawed—before the program ends on March 5.

But under Alsup’s ruling, anyone who was granted DACA status before September 5 can still apply to renew, according to The Washington Post. The judge did stop short of ruling that the Trump administration must accept new applications for DACA, but he said the plaintiffs showed they “are likely to suffer serious irreparable harm” without an injunction.

“Before DACA, Individual Plaintiffs, brought to America as children, faced a tough set of life and career choices turning on the comparative probabilities of being deported versus remaining here. DACA gave them a more tolerable set of choices, including joining the mainstream workforce,” he wrote.

The temporary injunction comes as the debate around a congressional DACA “fix” heats up. President Trump—who previously said he wanted to tie DACA to funding for his southern border wall—bafflingly said Tuesday that he might favor a “clean” DACA bill before his Republican buddies jumped in to say that no, he doesn’t actually want that at all.

UPDATE: Trump and the White House responded.

WHAT ELSE?

• A panel of federal judges struck down North Carolina’s hopelessly gerrymandered map of congressional districts on Tuesday, marking the first time a federal court has blocked a map because of partisan line-drawing. Now the state has just three weeks to redraw its map.
• The director and actress Greta Gerwig finally set the record straight on working with Woody Allen, telling the New York Times in a joint interview which also featured Aaron Sorkin for some reason:

I can only speak for myself and what I’ve come to is this: If I had known then what I know now, I would not have acted in the film. I have not worked for him again, and I will not work for him again. Dylan Farrow’s two different pieces made me realize that I increased another woman’s pain, and I was heartbroken by that realization. I grew up on his movies, and they have informed me as an artist, and I cannot change that fact now, but I can make different decisions moving forward.

• Fuck Jeff Bezos, again, forever.

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