(27 Feb 2018) The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the Trump administration's highly unusual bid to bypass a federals appeals court and get the justices to intervene in the fate of a programme that protects hundreds of thousands of young immigrants from deportation.
The announcement means the case affecting "Dreamers" will have to work its way through the lower courts before any Supreme Court ruling is possible. The case could also become moot if Congress takes action in the meantime.
Right now, however, further congressional action is in doubt after the Senate stalemated on the issue two weeks ago.
The Supreme Court's decision for now to stay out of the case on the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programme, or DACA, wasn't surprising.
It's highly unusual for the Supreme Court to hear a case before a lower appeals court has considered it.
But DACA supporters hailed the decision as a significant - if only temporary - win.
"Obviously it's not something permanent and it's not the solution to our problem. We will continue to fight for a clean Dream act so we can find that path to citizenship that we deserve," Antonio Alarcon said.
DACA has provided protection from deportation and work permits for about 800,000 young people who came to the US as children and stayed illegally.
In September, Trump argued that President Barack Obama had exceeded his executive powers when he created the programme.
Trump announced he was ending the programme effective March 5 and gave lawmakers until then to come up with a legislative fix.
But in recent weeks, federal judges in San Francisco and New York have made Trump's deadline temporarily moot for people who have sought and been granted renewals; the rulings do not extend to people who are applying for the first time.
Judges issued injunctions ordering the administration to keep DACA in place while courts consider legal challenges to Trump's termination.
As a result, US Citizenship and Immigration Services resumed accepting and processing DACA renewals in January, just as it had before Trump's September announcement.
The Trump administration has not tried to block the injunctions that force it to continue operating the programme.
Though the March 5 date is now moot, Greisa Martinez, policy and advocacy director for United We Dream, said DACA supporters planned to demonstrate in Washington on that day.
The Supreme Court's announcement Monday that it wouldn't step in to the case now means the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit will likely be the first appeals court to weigh in on the topic, the step before the case would return to the Supreme Court.
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