‘Outrageous,’ White House Says of DACA Ruling, as Trump Calls Court System ‘Broken’

By EILEEN SULLIVAN
© 2018 New York Times News Service

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump called the U.S. courts system “broken and unfair” on Wednesday, the morning after a federal judge’s ruling ordered the administration to restart a program that shields young immigrants in the country illegally from deportation.

Republicans and Democrats are in the middle of a legislative battle over the program created by President Barack Obama, called the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. Lawmakers met with Trump on Tuesday to discuss the program’s future.

“We find this decision to be outrageous, especially in light of the president’s successful bipartisan meeting with House and Senate members at the White House on the same day,” Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said in a statement released Wednesday morning.

Hours after the White House meeting, Judge William Alsup of U.S. District Court in San Francisco wrote that it was not proper to kill the program, and that the administration must “maintain the DACA program on a nationwide basis” as the legal challenge to the president’s decision in September to end the program moves forward.

Trump has previously criticized the courts system after judges have halted or held up his policy initiatives.

Sanders said the fate of the program should be addressed by Congress.

“President Trump is committed to the rule of law, and will work with members of both parties to reach a permanent solution that corrects the unconstitutional actions taken by the last administration,” Sanders said.