Trump administration to ask Supreme Court to intervene on DACA

The Justice WASHINGTON — Department on Tuesday said it would take the “rare step” of asking the Supreme Court to clear the way for the Trump administration to dismantle a federal program that provides work permits to undocumented immigrants who have lived in the United States since childhood.

The Department of Justice said it filed a notice of appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit seeking to overturn a California judge’s ruling that the federal government could not dismantle the Obamaera program while a legal challenge to the decision to end the program is pending.

The Trump administration said later this week it will petition the Supreme Court to intervene in the case, hoping to bypass the 9th circuit altogether in its bid to phase out the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in March.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said “it defies both law and common sense” that a “single district court in San Francisco” had halted the administration’s plans.

“We are now taking the rare step of requesting direct review on the merits of this injunction by the Supreme Court so that this issue may be resolved quickly and fairly for all the parties involved,” Sessions said.

The fate of DACA recipients, also known as “dreamers,” is at the heart of a legislative dispute on Capitol Hill that could result in a government shutdown later this week.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco issued a temporary injunction last week halting the Trump administration’s dismantling of the program while a legal challenge to that decision is pending. He ordered the government to resume renewing DACA and work authorizations for the 690,000 immigrants who held that status when the Trump administration ended the program on Sept. 5.