The United States District Court in Washington, D.C. today reaffirmed its April ruling in a lawsuit brought by Princeton University, one of its undergraduate students and Microsoft that the federal government’s decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was unlawful. Microsoft joined the lawsuit based on concern about the decision’s business and humanitarian impacts, including on its employees who are DACA registrants.
In today’s decision, U.S. District Judge John D. Bates gave the government until Aug. 23 to decide whether to seek a stay pending appeal of the decision, which would require the government to accept new DACA applications and issue renewals.
“A lasting solution for DREAMers has become an economic imperative and a humanitarian necessity,” said Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president. “We hope today’s decision will encourage the nation’s leaders to work together before the end of the year to address the uncertainty DREAMers have been living with for almost a year. DREAMers grew up in this country, attended our schools, pay taxes and contribute to our communities. They deserve bipartisan action by Congress.”