US Supreme Court rejects Donald Trump’s push to end Obama-era ‘Dreamers’ program

President slams Supreme Court’s rejection of attempts to end the Obama-era “Dreamers” program.

US President Donald Trump. Picture: AFP

The US Supreme Court has dealt a major blow to Donald Trump on immigration, rejecting the administration’s attempts to end the Obama-era “Dreamers” program to protect young immigrants.

The move ends, for now, the threat of deportation for about 700,000 undocumented migrants who came to the US as children and whose fate had been hanging in legal limbo since the White House moved in 2017 to wind down the program.

The Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling was the second major legal blow to the Trump administration in a week following its surprise 6-3 ruling that federal anti-discrimination laws protect gay workers.

It ensures that, in an election year, immigration will once again be a major issue, with the president reacting furiously to the court’s decision which prevents him from carrying out his 2016 election promise to end the so-called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

“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. Vote Trump 2020!,” Mr Trump tweeted.

Later, he tweeted: “Do you get the impression that the Supreme Court doesn’t like me?”

As President of the United States, I am asking for a legal solution on DACA, not a political one, consistent with the rule of law. The Supreme Court is not willing to give us one, so now we have to start this process all over again.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 18, 2020

Mr Trump warned that recent Supreme Court decisions against conservative causes showed that new justices were needed for the court.

“If the Radical left Democrats assume power, your Second Amendment, Right to Life, Secure Borders and Religious Liberty, among many other things, are OVER and GONE,” he tweeted.

The court’s majority decision on DACA came after the conservative Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the four liberal judges on the legal merits of the administration’s attempt to end the program.

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. Picture: AP

Justice Roberts said the administration acted arbitrarily in seeking to end the program and did not give sufficient reasons for doing so.

“We do not decide whether DACA or its rescission are sound policies,” Justice Roberts wrote. “We address only whether the agency complied with the procedural requirement that it provide a reasoned explanation for its action. Here the agency failed to consider the conspicuous issues of whether to retain forbearance and what if anything to do about the hardship to DACA recipients.”

The majority ruling rejected the Trump administration’s argument that DACA, introduced by Barack Obama in 2012 to protect children of undocumented immigrants, was illegal.

Many DACA recipients, known as Dreamers, are now in their 20s or 30s and are mostly from Mexico and central or South America yet have no experience of living in the country of their parent’s birth. The program does not offer a pathway to citizenship but does allow them to work in the US and receive health insurance.

The White House sought to end the program as part of Mr Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

US President Donald Trump. Picture: AP

Mr Obama welcomed the court’s decision, saying “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”.

Mr Obama called on voters to elect Mr Trump’s Democrat opponent Joe Biden and a Democrat congress to ensure permanent protection for Dreamers.

Democrats welcomed the court’s ruling with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer saying he cried “tears of joy” when he heard the verdict.

But in a dissenting opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas argued that the administration’s decision to repeal DACA was correct and that the repeal process was being scrutinised more rigorously by the court than the “obvious legal deficiencies’ of DACA itself”.

“Today’s decision must be recognised for what it is: an effort to avoid a politically controversial but legally correct decision,” Justice Thomas wrote.

Mr Trump’s disappointment with recent Supreme Court rulings comes despite the court having obtained a 5 to 4 conservative majority following the confirmation of conservative judge Brett Kavanaugh in 2018.

Cameron Stewart is also US Contributor for Sky News Australia