Judge blocks Trump order to end DACA

Senate stumbles

NEW YORK, Feb 14, (AFP): A second US judge on Tuesday blocked an order by President Donald Trump to end a program protecting from deportation migrants who had been brought illegally to the country as children.

The decision comes after a federal judge in San Francisco in January ruled against repealing the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), program.

In September, Trump said he was scrapping the DACA program but delayed enforcement to give Congress six months — until March — to craft a lasting solution for the program recipients, informally known as “Dreamers.”

Some 690,000 Dreamers registered under the DACA program, and 1.1 million others were eligible but did not sign up.

The two court rulings allow for DACA to temporarily remain in force, allowing program recipients to submit renewal applications.

Meanwhile, the US Senate’s muchtouted freewheeling immigration debate failed to materialize Tuesday, raising prospects of Congress and President Donald Trump falling short in striking a deal on border security and the legalization of young immigrants.

Lawmakers have spoken for months about the need to craft a bipartisan compromise after Trump scrapped a program that allowed so-called Dreamers brought to the United States illegally as children to stay, and gave Congress until March 5 to find a solution.

Some 690,000 Dreamers registered under the Obamaera Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, and 1.1 million others were eligible but did not sign up.

Last month, Trump introduced a proposal that would put all 1.8 million of them on a pathway to citizenship, in exchange for stiff cutbacks on overall immigration and funding for a massive wall on the US border with Mexico.

Senate Republicans transforming that plan into legislation say it has the best chance of becoming law.

But Republicans who control the Senate need Democratic votes to get an immigration bill across the finish line, and the opposition party has panned the presidential plan, arguing for a narrower measure that addresses the Dreamers and border security.

A bipartisan solution — and one that would gain the 60 votes necessary to advance legislation in the 100-member Senate — has proven elusive.

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