US judge blocks Trump move rescinding immigrant programme

WASHINGTON, DC: A judge on Tuesday blocked President Donald Trump from ending an Obama-era programme that protected from deportation migrants who entered America illegally as children.

The ruling came hours after Trump presided over a high-profile White House meeting with lawmakers from both parties on the fate of so-called Dreamers.

Judge William Alsup in San Francisco issued his 49-page ruling ordering the administration to reinstate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programme, known popularly as Daca.

The government is “HEREBY ORDERED AND ENJOINED, pending final judgment herein or other order, to maintain the Daca programme on a nationwide basis on the same terms and conditions as were in effect before the rescission,” he wrote.

Alsup said the Department of Justice’s view that the programme was illegal was based on a “flawed legal premise”.

Unless his order is overturned by a higher court, Daca recipients will be eligible to submit renewal applications and the government will be required to “post reasonable public notice” that the programme is once again active.

The so-called “Dreamers” were protected from deportation under the policy enacted in 2012.

In September, Trump said he was scrapping the programme, but delayed enforcement to give Congress six months — until March — to craft a lasting solution.