DACA deadline for U.S. immigrants arrives with less urgency

SAN DIEGO – A program that temporarily shields hundreds of thousands of young people from deportation was scheduled to end Monday but court orders have forced the Trump administration to keep issuing renewals.

In September, Trump said he was ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program but gave Congress six months to develop a legislative fix. Those whose permits expired by March 5 had one month to apply for renewal.

A nationwide injunction in January by U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco required the administration to resume renewals but does not apply to first-time applicants.

Alsup ruled Jan. 9 that the administration failed to justify ending the program and that the plaintiffs – the states of California, Maine, Maryland and Minnesota as well as the University of California – had a good chance of winning at trial. His nationwide injunction required the administration to resume accepting renewal requests within a week.

U.S. District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis in New York later issued a similar ruling.

On Feb. 26, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the administration’s request to intervene, which would have leapfrogged the appeals court.

On Monday, a federal judge in Maryland ruled that the government has the legal right to wind down DACA. However, the ruling doesn’t change Alsup’s nationwide injunction and therefore had no immediate impact.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals put its review of Alsup’s decision on fast track, but legal experts do not expect a decision until June at the earliest. From there, it is expected to go to the Supreme Court, likely keeping DACA alive through November midterm elections.