The republican President Donald Trump is putting the lie to his caring about what happens to the 700.000 DACA dreamers, a program designed to prevent the deportation of young people who came to the USA as children with undocumented parents, and who do not know their countries of origin. The president blew up a bipartisan proposal that was presented to him on January 11, 2018 by calling countries with peoples of color as shxtholes.

On January 9, 2018, the 9th federal district-court judge in California, William Alsup, stepped in to halt the Trump Administration’s cancellation of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), the Obama-era program that shields from deportation about seven hundred thousand immigrants. This gave the DACA dreamers a reprieve while the US Congress worked out a way to fix this country.

So not only did the president blow up a bipartisan plan which he had previously claimed he wanted, but now his administration is taking steps to challenge the 9th Circuit’s ruling to give these young people, a reprieve.

Who are the hardline anti-immigration staffers in the White House?

As per a 11/10/17 New Yorker article by Jonathan Blitzer, “a handful of officials in the White House, the Justice Department, and the Department of Homeland Security have spent the past year attempting to realize President Trump’s vision of an America that is less welcoming of foreigners. John Kelly, the White House chief of staff; Jeff Sessions, the Attorney General; and Stephen Miller, Trump’s senior adviser, have led this effort. A crucial role has also been played by a lesser-known figure: Gene Hamilton, a lawyer in his mid-thirties who works as a top aide to Sessions at the Justice Department. Federal officials, congressional staffers, advocacy groups, and think-tank researchers know that Hamilton has helped shape Trump’s various travel bans, changes to refugee policies, and the implementation of an aggressive new approach to immigration enforcement. And yet, as one immigration lawyer told me of Hamilton, “he’s had such a light footprint.” Hamilton has rarely spoken to the press, and his relatively short career means that few can claim to know the exact nature of his beliefs or goals.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xwg6S_BvG4

“Last week, I obtained a two-hundred-and-thirty-five-page transcript of a deposition that Hamilton was compelled to give, in late October, as part of a federal lawsuit over the Administration’s handling of daca, the Obama-era program that protected from deportation some eight hundred thousand undocumented immigrants who had been brought to the U.S. as children. The lawsuit was brought by Make the Road New York, the National Immigration Law Center, and the Worker and Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic at Yale Law School. The groups’ argument is that, while the government may have been within its power to cancel daca, the manner in which it did so—suddenly, and without warning—violated the rights of the people who relied on daca for work permits, student loans, and other benefits. During the proceeding, Hamilton was pushed to describe the part he’d played in various Administration decisions. Over four hours, he detailed his interactions with senior officials such as Kelly and Miller, shared his personal views on immigration policy, and acknowledged, notably, that he’d been the author of the September 5th D.H.S. memo that formally terminated daca. And, while Hamilton was careful not to answer more than he had to, the transcript offers a rare glimpse of an Administration official candidly discussing the development of a major area of policy.” (For access to entire article, see: A Trump Official Behind the End of DACA Explains Himself )

On January 16, 2018, Maria Sacchetti of the Washington Post penned the following report, “Justice will ask Supreme Court to intervene, allow Trump administration to end DACA”

Excerpts:

“The Justice Department on Tuesday said it would take the “rare step” of asking the Supreme Court to overturn a judge’s ruling and allow the Trump administration to dismantle a program that provides work permits to undocumented immigrants raised in the United States.”

“The Trump administration said it has appealed the judge’s injunction — which said the Obama-era program must continue for now — to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.”

“But the Justice Department will also petition the Supreme Court later this week to intervene in the case, an unusual action that would allow the government to bypass the 9th Circuit altogether in its bid to phase out the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program starting in March.”

“It defies both law and common sense” that a “single district court in San Francisco” had halted the administration’s plans, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement. “We are now taking the rare step of requesting direct review on the merits of this injunction by the Supreme Court so that this issue may be resolved quickly and fairly for all the parties involved.”

“Last week, U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco issued a temporary injunction halting plans to end the program while a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s decision is pending.”

“He ordered the government to resume renewing DACA and work authorizations for the 690,000 immigrants who held that status when Sessions announced the end of the program Sept. 5. Homeland Security officials said Saturday that they would comply with the court order and resume accepting applications to renew work permits for the immigrants, also known as “dreamers.”

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D), who filed one of the federal lawsuits that led to the temporary injunction, said Tuesday he was confident that the higher courts will uphold the judge’s order.

“The unlawful action by the Trump Administration to terminate DACA impacts the lives and livelihood of hundreds of thousands [of] Dreamers, their colleagues, our universities, our businesses and our economy,” Becerra said in a statement.

“As Sessions noted, it is rare to ask the Supreme Court to step in before the lower courts have completed their work. The justices could take the case if they decide it is important enough, or rely on their usual pattern of waiting until the appeals court has acted.”

“Until the Justice Department files its specific request with the Supreme Court, it is hard to predict how quickly the justices might act. The department did not ask the Supreme Court for a stay of Alsup’s ruling, which would have prompted quicker action on the part of the court.”

“The fate of DACA recipients is at the heart of a legislative dispute on Capitol Hill that could result in a government shutdown later this week. President Trump says that President Barack Obama exceeded his authority when he created the DACA program in 2012, and that Congress must pass legislation protecting dreamers if they are to be allowed to stay.”

“Trump has expressed sympathy for the immigrants, who were brought to the United States by their parents as minors and did not knowingly break the law. But he is also pushing for border security and other measures as part of any legislative deal.”