U.S. top court rejects Trump’s repeal of immigration program

WASHINGTON— In a striking rebuke to President Donald Trump, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday rejected his plan to repeal the popular Obama-era order that protected so-called Dreamers, the approximately 700,000 young immigrants who were brought to this country illegally as children.

Led by Chief Justice John Roberts, the court called the decision to cancel the program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, arbitrary and not justified. The program allows these young people to register with the government and, if they have a clean criminal record, to obtain a work permit and be assured they will not be deported. At least 27,000 DACA recipients are employed as health-care workers.

Trump had been confident that the high court, with its majority of Republican appointees, would rule in his favour and say the chief executive had the power to “unwind” the policy.

But the chief justice joined with the four liberals to rule that Trump and his administration had failed to give an explanation for why it was repealing a popular and widely lauded program, a violation of federal law.

But the justices did not decide that Trump’s repeal violated the Constitution or immigration law. Instead, the majority blocked the repeal on the grounds that Trump’s team had failed to explain its rationale as required by the Administrative Procedure Act.

Usually, the court’s conservative members argue for deferring to the federal government on regulatory matters, particularly in an area such as immigration. But that policy of deference requires the justices to have confidence in the government’s decision-making process.

The decision made for an unusually bad week for Trump and conservatives.

On Monday, the court rejected the administration’s position that a 1964 civil rights law should not protect LGBTQ workers from discrimination, and separately it sided with California in a legal battle over so-called sanctuary laws protecting immigrants.

“Do you get the impression that the Supreme Court doesn’t like me?” Trump tweeted Thursday.