A federal judge on Saturday rejected the Donald Trump
administration’s proposal to put limitations on the program for illegal
immigrants brought in the country as minors, saying that the move authorised by
Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf was invalid.

The move was designed to impact 700,000 “dreamers”, called
so after a Bill introduced several times, but never passed, to streamline their
status of stay in the US.          

Judge Nicholas Garaufis in New York spiked the order saying
that when the order was issued in July, Wolf was not lawfully serving in his role,
as it was not confirmed by the US Senate.

The ruling is another victory for proponents of the Barack
Obama-era program after the US Supreme Court in June rejected Trump’s
cancellation of it.

Saturday’s court decision said Wolf’s restrictions
“effectively suspended” DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals, while the Trump administration reviewed how to proceed, AFP reported.

Wolf’s rules said new applications would not be accepted and
renewals would be limited to one year instead of two.

They are now invalid because “the court holds that Mr.
Wolf was not lawfully serving as Acting Secretary of Homeland Security under
the Homeland Security Act” when he issued them, the ruling said.

Trump entered office promising to halt almost all
immigration and to expel the more than 10 million people estimated living in
the country, many for decades, without legal immigration documents.

The Obama administration sought to address the issue in
2012, with the DACA policy offering protection at renewable two-year periods,
including authorization to work, to people brought into the United States
illegally as children and then growing up here.