Federal Judge Says New DACA Rules Are Invalid, Crushes Trump Admin

Trump's incompetence has a few rare upsides, like his inability to repeal DACA despite trying really hard for four years.

Chad Wolf was not legally serving as acting Homeland Security secretary when he signed rules limiting applications and renewals for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, and those rules are now invalid, a federal judge ruled Saturday.

Wolf in July issued a memo saying that new applications for DACA, the Obama-era program that shields undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children from deportation, would not be accepted and renewals would be limited to one year instead of two amid an ongoing review.

Exactly right. Wolf was illegally appointed; all his actions are void.

The ruling is another defeat for the Trump administration, which is now unlikely to be able to address DACA and the fate of Dreamers. The administration tried ending the program in 2017, but the US Supreme Court blocked their attempt in June.

The memo invalidated on Saturday had sought to buy time while the administration decided its next steps. The President has been successful in achieving many immigration limits, but has not been able to significantly dismantle DACA, the now eight-year-old program.

"You're entitled to your own opinions, you're not entitled to your own facts."

...the judge...tore into the Trump administration for its handling of the program in a hearing Wednesday, calling the latest government actions a "sad and inappropriate use of executive authority."

"I just want you to understand that I believe that we should have a process, a legal process here, as everywhere else, but sadly, what we're doing is impacting the lives of many, many people, who are buoyed by the Supreme Court decision in June and have been undermined by the conduct of the Department of Homeland Security since then, as I set forth in my decision," Judge Nicholas Garaufis said.

Garaufis was not impressed, calling it a "sad and inappropriate use of executive authority to keep DACA recipients & DACA-eligible individuals (from accessing protections)."

Sources: 

https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/14/politics/federal-judge-daca-rules-chad-wolf/index.html

https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/18/politics/daca-garaufis/index.html