A US judge has blocked President Donald Trump's administration from ending an Obama-era programme that provided legal status to young immigrants who entered the country illegally as children.
San Francisco-based Judge William Alsup issued his 49-page ruling yesterday evening, ordering the administration to reinstate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programme (DACA).
Judge Alsup said that the Department of Justice's view that the programme was illegal was based on a "flawed legal premise".
Unless his order is overturned by a higher court, former DACA recipients will now be eligible to submit renewal applications and the government will be required to "post reasonable public notice" that the programme is once again active.
So-called 'Dreamers' were protected from deportation under the policy enacted during Barack Obama's presidency.
In September, Mr Trump said he was scrapping the DACA programme but delayed enforcement to give Congress six months until March to craft a lasting solution.
Earlier yesterday, he held a meeting in the White House to coax Republican and Democratic politicians towards a compromise on the fate of the 'Dreamers'.
He also signalled he was open to more comprehensive immigration reform to address millions of other undocumented people living in the shadows, as long as Democrats are willing to countenance greater border security, including a controversial wall along the Mexican border.
Mr Trump has responded to the ruling, describing the US court system as "unfair".
"It just shows everyone how broken and unfair our Court System is when the opposing side in a case (such as DACA) always runs to the 9th Circuit and almost always wins before being reversed by higher courts", he posted on Twitter.
