On Thursday, the Supreme Court shot down the Trump administration's bid to put an end to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
The Washington Post reports that the 5-4 decision was written by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., marking a win for almost 650,000 recipients of the program. Over the past two years, Trump's administration has attempted to "wind down" the DACA program, which was launched by President Barack Obama in 2012. The program helps protect qualified young immigrants illegally brought into the United States from getting deported.
Trump's administration could attempt to shut down the program again in the future, but the White House would need a more detailed explanation for the decision. Roberts wrote that the decision to rescind DACA "must be vacated." It has been argued by immigration lawyers that there's around 27,000 DACA recipients that are healthcare workers on the front line responding to the coronavirus pandemic. "Termination of DACA during this national health emergency would be catastrophic," they argued in a court filing on April 2.
Figures regarding DACA participants indicate that 90 percent have a job, while half are in school. This marks the second defeat for the Trump administration this week, following the news that the Supreme Court ruled that an existing civil rights law protects workers from job discrimination on the basis of their sexual orientation.
