Several U.S. tech companies have expressed disappointment at a federal judge’s ruling that blocked new applications for a program to protect immigrants brought to the U.S. as children from deportation.
U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen sided with a group of states that went to court on Friday to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, arguing that it was created illegally by former President Barack Obama in 2012.
Hanen ruled that the program violated the Administrative Procedure Act when it was created, but said that because so many people were currently in the program – nearly 650,000 – his ruling would apply temporarily to their cases and their renewal requests.
Twitter, Google, Microsoft and Photoshop maker Adobe urged the U.S. Congress to unite to protect “Dreamers,” with Google saying they wanted to turn DACA into law.
Biden, who was vice president when Obama launched the program, said he wants to create a permanent path to citizenship for DACA recipients known as “Dreamers.”
Biden vowed to preserve the program, which protects hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the U.S. as children from deportation, promised to appeal the judge’s ruling that invalidates it, and urged Congress to pave the way for those children to become U.S. citizens.
For more information, read the original story in Reuters.