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Federal judge restores DACA program

On Friday, December 4, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to reinstate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in full. The DACA program allows nearly 700,000 undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children to live, work and study here legally.

A Department of Homeland Security memorandum issued this summer had sought to restrict the program to individuals who were already enrolled. It also sought to limit benefits, including work permits, to one year. With this ruling, DACA-eligible immigrants may file new applications, and benefits of the program are restored to a renewable two-year period.

“We welcome this important decision to restore the DACA program and offer more certainty to this very vulnerable population,” said Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne. “Stanford DACA recipients are integral members of our community, and we believe that investing in their education is an investment in our country’s future. We continue to urge the White House and Congress to work toward a legislative solution that addresses the needs of DACA recipients.”