Threat to about 800,000 immigrants removed for now
Developments on Day 359 of the Trump Administration:
See also VideoCast with CNN: Trump’s Racism Is Damaging America in the World
Agency Resumes Processing of Young Immigrants After Court Ruling
A federal government agency said on Saturday that it will resume processing of renewal requests by young undocumented immigrants, “Dreamers”, to remain in the US.
US Citizenship and Immigration Services said that “until further notice”, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program “will be operated on the terms in place before it was rescinded” on September 5 by Donald Trump.
Barack Obama issued an executive order in 2012 to allow the young immigrants to continue to live and work in the US. Trump’s decision threatened almost 800,000 Dreamers with deportation unless DACA could be established in law by March 5.
The renewal of processing came after a federal judge in California issued a nationwide injunction on Tuesday, ordering the Trump Administration to resume DACA,
Citizenship and Immigration Services said people who were previously granted deferred action under the program can request a renewal if their permit expired on or after September 5, 2016. People who had previously received DACA but whose deferred action had expired before September 5, 2016, cannot renew but can file a new request. The same instructions apply to an immigrant whose deferred action had been terminated.
There was no immediate White House response to the decision. Instead Donald Trump used Twitter to indicate that his offer to work with Democrats to enshrine DACA in law is in jeopardy.
I don’t believe the Democrats really want to see a deal on DACA. They are all talk and no action. This is the time but, day by day, they are blowing the one great opportunity they have. Too bad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 13, 2018
Trump has demanded that a bill covering DACA must also include full funding of his Wall on the US-Mexican border, an end to immigrants being allowed to bring over family members, and other restrictions on immigration.
There have been further complications because of demands from some GOP legislators for a hardline bill and by Trump’s remarks, at a meeting with both Republicans and Democrats, deriding people from “shithole countries”.