Dreamers Get A Breather As Supreme Court Turns Down Trump

WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. Supreme Court gave "dreamers" a break on Monday, refusing — for now — to get involved in the national debate over the fate of hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally when they were children. The justices on Monday refused to take up the Trump administration's appeal of a lower court order requiring it to continue accepting renewal applications for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA.

The ruling is a setback for the administration, which had asked the court to review and reverse lower court decisions keeping nearly 800,000 of the dreamers in the country for now. What made the appeal unusual is that the administration tried to bypass a federal appeals court in San Francisco and go directly to the Supreme Court.

The justices rejected the administration's petition without prejudice. That means the administration could still return to the Supreme Court after the appellate court rules.

"It is assumed that the Court of Appeals will proceed expeditiously to decide this case," the justices said in a brief unsigned comment.

A judge in New York also has ruled in favor of immigrants challenging the end of DACA, and that case is expected to proceed to the federal appeals court in New York.

President Donald Trump had set March 5 as the end date for the DACA program and the deadline for Congress to come up with a resolution. Lawmakers have not been able to agree on any legislation though, and the deadline is essentially moot.

The Trump administration said in its appeal the injunction would probably continue into next year if the appeals process ran through it's normal course. Even expedited, a ruling is likely to take at least to the summer and the case wouldn't return to the Supreme Court until at least the fall. Under those conditions, a Supreme Court ruling could be feasible by the end of the year.

The court order says applications must be accepted indefinitely. DACA has provided protection from deportation and work permits for about 800,000 young people, many who were brought to the U.S. illegally.

It's unclear how the court's action Monday will affect efforts in Congress to come up with a legislative fix. The Senate recently failed to pass an immigration bill.

The Supreme Court rarely hears a case before a lower appeals court has considered it. The fight over whether President Richard Nixon had to turn over the Watergate tapes is one such example.

The average age of the so-called "dreamers"is 24. None of them collect welfare benefits such as cash assistance, food stamps or Medicaid and more than half were brought to America when they were 6 years old or younger. More than 90 percent of them have jobs.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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