US President Joe Biden said on Saturday he was "
deeply disappointed
" by a court decision that partially invalidates a flagship reform by Barack Obama, intended to protect young migrants who arrived as children in the United States.
Joe Biden said in a statement that his administration would appeal the decision of a federal judge "
who is plunging hundreds of thousands of young migrants into an uncertain future
".
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The decision relates to the DACA program, adopted in 2012 to bring out of hiding migrants under the age of 30, who entered America illegally in their childhood and who built their lives in the United States, nicknamed the “
Dreamers
”.
Some 700,000 young people take advantage of this program, which prevents them from being deported, and gives them a social security number, essential for working, driving or studying in the United States.
But a federal judge in Houston ruled Friday night that the former president had exceeded his powers by acting by decree, after failing to pass this reform in Congress.
Its decision does not relate to people already registered in the program, but prohibits the benefit of new young people.
Even if the legal part continues, this is yet another blow after initial attempts to remove these protections.
In 2017, Republican President Donald Trump, who had made the fight against illegal immigration one of his battle horses, had indeed decided to put an end to the DACA program, declaring it "
illegal
".
Seized urgently, the courts had suspended its decision, offering respite to the "
Dreamers
".
The Trump administration then appealed to the Supreme Court, which finally decided in 2020 to find him wrong on procedural grounds.
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As soon as he arrived at the White House, Joe Biden, who was Barack Obama's vice-president for eight years, proposed a vast migratory reform which, among other things, plans to enshrine the status of “
Dreamers
” in law.
"
Only Congress can chart a path to citizenship for the Dreamers and provide them with the assurances and stability they need and deserve,
" he said in his statement on Saturday.
These young people enjoy a good image in the population which, on the whole, considers that they do not have to pay for their parents' choices.
But the Republicans, who have a blocking minority in Congress, violently oppose other provisions of the reform which makes its adoption, as it stands, unlikely.