By Max Greenwood ~ The Hill ~ May 1, 2018
A federal judge said Tuesday that immigration officials cannot immediately cancel the protected status of a 25-year-old in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, The Associated Press reported.
Daniel Ramirez Medina became one of the first DACA recipients to be arrested under the Trump administration last year, despite having no criminal record.
Federal officials restored Ramirez's DACA status last month after previously revoking it. Soon after that, however, officials notified him once again that they planned to cancel the protections, alleging that he had ties to a gang.
Ramirez has denied having gang ties, and a federal immigration judge has found the allegations to be unsubstantiated.
In a court hearing on Tuesday, Ramirez's lawyers asked U.S. District Judge Ricardo Martinez to block the government from rescinding the man's DACA status again, according to the AP.
U.S. government lawyers, however, argued that while Ramirez had been told of the decision to revoke his DACA status, the government has not actually done so yet, meaning that there was no final action for Ramirez to challenge in court.
Martinez said that the government could not immediately cancel Ramirez's DACA status, but also requested a briefing with the lawyers in the case, the AP reported.
President Trump announced in September that he was rescinding DACA, which offers temporary protections to certain immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children.
But that move has faced numerous legal challenges, and three judges have already ruled against Trump's decision to end the program.
Source: Max Greenwood ~ The Hill
