Judge: Trump racism may have been key to ending DACA

Court's order follows ruling earlier this week to allow 'Dreamers' to renew their permits.

By JOSH GERSTEIN 01/12/2018 08:21 PM EST

The federal judge who earlier this week ordered the reversal of President Donald Trump's decision to end the program protecting so-called Dreamers said in a new ruling Friday that it is "plausible" that Trump shut down the program for racial reasons.

"These allegations raise a plausible inference that racial animus towards Mexicans and Latinos was a motivating factor in the decision to end DACA," U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup wrote, referring to the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program bestowing quasi-legal status and work permits on undocumented immigrants who entered the U.S. as children.

Alsup noted that two of the suits filed challenging the decision the Trump administration announced in September to wind-down the program cited Trump's anti-Mexican and anti-Latino rhetoric during the 2016 campaign, including his description of Mexicans as rapists and of immigrants coming across the southern border as "animals."

"Circumstantial evidence of intent, including statements by a decisionmaker, may be considered in evaluating whether government action was motivated by a discriminatory purpose," wrote Alsup, an appointee of President Bill Clinton. "These statements were not about the rescission (which came later) but they still have relevance to show racial animus against people south of our border."

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https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/12/trump-racism-daca-dreamers-judge-339512