Supreme Court's ruling on immigration program enrages Trump, Republican lawmakers

The U.S. Supreme Court latest decision on an immigration program established during the Obama administration has drawn the ire of President Donald Trump and Republicans on Capitol Hill.

The nation's highest federal court, in a 5-4 ruling, on Thursday rejected the Trump administration's plan to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a program which grants undocumented immigrants brought to the nation as children permission to live and work lawfully.

The justices ruled that the administration failed to give an adequate justification for terminating DACA.

"The dispute before the Court is not whether [Department of Homeland Security (DHS)] may rescind DACA. All parties agree that it may," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in a majority opinion that was joined by the court's more liberal justices. "The dispute is instead primarily about the procedure the agency followed in doing so."

Justice Clarence Thomas, in his dissent, called it "an effort to avoid a politically controversial but legally correct decision."

DACA, created via an administrative memo in 2012, allows some undocumented immigrants in the United States to receive a renewable two-year deferral from deportation and makes applicants eligible for work permits, driver's licenses, and health insurance.

Some 700,000 undocumented immigrants, most of them brought to the United States as children, had signed up for DACA introduced by the then Barack Obama government in 2012.

"Eight years ago this week, we protected young people who were raised as part of our American family from deportation," Former President Barack Obama tweeted. "Today, I'm happy for them, their families, and all of us."

Trump, who has made the abolishment of DACA a key part of his hardline immigration policy, lashed out at the Supreme Court decision.

"These horrible politically charged decisions coming out of the Supreme Court are shotgun blasts into the face of people that are proud to call themselves Republicans or Conservatives," Trump wrote in a series of tweets.

"As President of the United States, I am asking for a legal solution on DACA, not a political one, consistent with the rule of law. The Supreme Court is not willing to give us one, so now we have to start this process all over again," he said.

Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf said in a statement that he thinks "the DACA program was created out of thin air and implemented illegally."

There are five conservative and four liberal justices on the nine-seat Supreme Court.

Thursday's decision to preserve DACA marked the third time Chief Justice Roberts, who leans conservative, cast the deciding vote on a major Trump immigration policy, and is likely to further cement his image as the court's new swing vote.

Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, railed against Chief Justice Roberts on Thursday. Judging is "not supposed to be a game," he said during a Senate floor speech.

Senator Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican claimed that the Supreme Court "appears to be legislating."

The DACA decision came only days after the Supreme Court ruled that gay and transgender employees are protected by the nation's civil rights laws against employer discrimination.

Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Neil Gorsuch, a conservative whom Trump picked to succeed Antonin Scalia, sided with their liberal colleagues to deliver the ruling.

"During these dark times, these two decisions from the Supreme Court this week were a surprising ray of light," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Thursday on Twitter. "No discrimination. Embracing immigrants."

Trump, meanwhile, claimed that the Supreme Court doesn't like him.

"The recent Supreme Court decisions, not only on DACA, Sanctuary Cities, Census, and others, tell you only one thing, we need NEW JUSTICES of the Supreme Court," the president wrote, adding that he will craft a new list of conservative Supreme Court Justice nominees in coming months.

Supreme Court justices are nominated by U.S. president and confirmed by the Senate. Each justice has lifetime tenure.

Besides Gorsuch, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who replaced Anthony Kennedy in 2018, was also nominated by Trump.

(CGTN)