The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked the Trump administration's attempt to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, an Obama-era program that protects hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the US as children from deportation. Daca allowed eligible immigrants who were brought to the US as undocumented minors to stay in the country with renewable protections from deportation and earn a work permit.
The 5-4 ruling was written by Chief Justice John Roberts and joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor.
In a statement, Cesar Vargas, New York state’s first undocumented attorney, said: “Dreamers can now breathe a sigh of relief"
“We always knew this was close and we were proven right with the 5-4 decision,” he said, of the split vote between the nine justices that sit on the supreme court. “Now the Trump administration has
This puts on hold any plans to round up more than 700,000 young immigrants — many of whom have been living in the United States since they were small children — and deport them to foreign countries they may not even remember.