Judge to U.S.: Give a better rationale for ending DACA or else accept new applications

Demonstrators rally in support of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) outside the Capitol, Sunday, Jan. 21, 2018, in Washington, on the second day of the federal shutdown. Democrats have been seeking a deal to protect the “Dreamers,” who have been shielded against deportation by DACA, which President Donald Trump halted last year. AP PHOTO

WASHINGTON — A third judge has ruled against the Trump administration’s plans to end the federal program that shields some young immigrants from deportation.

A Washington-based U.S. district judge, John D. Bates, calls the Department of Homeland Security’s rationale against the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, “arbitrary and capricious.”

In the ruling issued Tuesday night, Bates gives DHS 90 days to “better explain its view that DACA is unlawful.” If the department cannot come up with a better explanation, he writes, it “must accept and process new as well as renewal DACA applications.”

DACA allowed immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children, known as Dreamers, to stay and work legally under renewable permits. President Donald Trump announced last year that he would end the Obama-era program.