Supreme Court blocks Trump from ending DACA immigration program in a major win for Dreamers

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the Trump administration cannot proceed with its plan to shut down the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in a huge win for Dreamers. The 5-4 decision which allowed nearly 800,000 young people to avoid deportation and remain in the U.S., comes as a blow to President Donald Trump on the issue of immigration—a primary focus of his domestic agenda. Chief Justice John Roberts, who was the swing vote in the ruling, wrote in the decision that the government failed to provide an adequate reason to justify ending the DACA program.

According to CNN, Roberts was joined in the majority by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan, Stephen Breyer, and Sonia Sotomayor. "We do not decide whether DACA or its rescission are sound policies," he wrote in the majority opinion. "'The wisdom' of those decisions 'is none of our concern.' We address only whether the agency complied with the procedural requirement that it provide a reasoned explanation for its action." This marks the second time in a week the Supreme Court has ruled against the Trump administration, coming just days after the court said Monday that LGBTQ Americans are protected under the Civil Rights Act.

Although the Trump administration could once again try to end DACA—an Obama-era program that protects thousands of immigrants brought to the US as children from deportation—by providing a more detailed explanation, the chances of that happening are low. As NBC News points out, it seems unlikely that the White House would want to take such a step against the widely popular program now in the midst of a presidential campaign. "We conclude that the acting secretary did violate" the Administrative Procedure Act and that the decision to rescind DACA "must be vacated," Roberts wrote in his decision, calling the "total rescission" of DACA "arbitrary and capricious."

Roberts siding with the liberals on the bench will undoubtedly infuriate judicial conservatives who are still fuming over him once providing the deciding vote to uphold Obamacare. The majority decision held that the President had broken the laws governing federal agencies when he ended DACA in 2017 since the memorandum that recommended its termination failed to address vital parts of the policy. Meanwhile, Roberts pointed out in his opinion that while it wasn't necessarily unconstitutional for the Trump administration to terminate DACA, the way it went about it certainly was. "The appropriate recourse is, therefore, to remand to DHS [Department of Homeland Security] so that it may reconsider the problem anew," he wrote.

President Donald Trump appeared to blast the Supreme Court's two recent rulings by comparing them to "shotgun blasts" in a pair of tweets moments after the decision came down Thursday. These horrible & politically charged decisions coming out of the Supreme Court are shotgun blasts into the face of people that are proud to call themselves Republicans or Conservatives. We need more Justices or we will lose our 2nd. Amendment & everything else, he tweeted.

Former President Barack Obama also addressed the decision on Twitter Thursday morning, writing: Eight years ago this week, we protected young people who were raised as part of our American family from deportation. Today, I'm happy for them, their families, and all of us. We may look different and come from everywhere, but what makes us American are our shared ideals. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., gave an emotional address on the Senate floor moments after the Supreme Court announced its decision, stating that he "cried tears of joy." Schumer called the DACA decision and the court's ruling Monday "a bright ray of sunshine."

"Who would’ve thought," he repeatedly exclaimed, remarking "wow" several times. Meanwhile, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce CEO Thomas Donohue called the ruling "the right decision for Dreamers, our economy, and our country." He added that removing DACA recipients "would deny our country talent, future leaders, and an essential piece of the American workforce including teachers, nurses, doctors, farmers, and entrepreneurs."