DENVER — Colorado immigrant advocates are reacting to the latest decision in the DACA battle.
CNN reports another federal judge has overruled the Trump administration's efforts to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, and says the government has to accept new applications.
"This new decision is definitely reassuring for our community because it lets us know that we're advocating and asking for the right thing and that the Trump administration was in fact wrong in terminating the DACA program," says Ana Rodriguez with the Colorado People's Alliance.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge John D. Bates in Washington gives the administration 90 days to provide a better justification for why it ended the DACA program.
Judge Bates ruled the the wind-down of DACA last September was "arbitrary and capricious" because the Department of Homeland Security failed to "adequately explain its conclusion that the program was unlawful."
The DACA program protects young undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children. It's estimated there are some 700,000 so-called "Dreamers" 'in the United States, including about 18,000 in Colorado.
If the ruling stands after 90 days, those immigrants will be able to continue applying for renewals, and new applications will be processed for those who were not able to apply for the program last year.
"These are folks that were too young, maybe they were still gathering the documents proving they got here at the correct age," says Rodriguez.
But advocates point out that this is not a permanent solution.
"I need more certainty in my life," says Rodriguez, who has lived in the United States since she was 4.
"I've lived here all my life, and I need to know that I'll be able to continue to work, thrive and live here for the rest of my life. That's why we are continuing to advocate with our congress people for them to pass a clean DREAM Act as soon as possible."
