New DACA rules invalid, says federal judge

The ruling, rendering the rules invalid, would be subject to appeal if the US government chooses to do so.

A federal judge on Saturday said that the rules limiting applications and renewals for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programme were invalid as federal judge Chad Wolf, when he signed rule, was not legally serving as acting Homeland Security secretary, reported CNN.

In July, Wolf issued a memo furthering Donald Trump administration’s order rescinding a popular Obama-era programme that protected hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants from deportation. (Reuters image)

In July, Wolf issued a memo furthering Donald Trump administration’s order rescinding a popular Obama-era programme that protected hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants from deportation. The memo said that fresh applications for DACA would not be accepted and renewals would be limited to one year instead of two.

Invalidated on Saturday, the memo had sought to buy time while the administration decided its next steps. The ruling, rendering the rules invalid, would be subject to appeal if the US government chooses to do so.

This comes as another setback for the Trump administration, which unsuccessfully attempted to end the programme in 2017. The US Supreme Court in June blocked the administration’s order and Chief Justice John Roberts called the decision to end the programme “arbitrary and capricious”.

According to the US citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), there are an estimated 699,350 DACA recipients, also called Dreamers, protected by DACA. The United States has told India at least 2,550 of them are from India.