U.S. judge orders Trump administration to fully restore DACA

Washington, December 7 (RHC)-- In a major victory for immigrant rights, a federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to fully and immediately restore DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, in its original form. 

The judge's ruling means some 300,000 young people will be able to apply to DACA for the first time.  It also restores work authorizations in the U.S. to two years and will make it easier for applicants to travel abroad before their application is approved.

The order comes over three years after Trump moved to end the landmark program in 2017, throwing the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and their families into uncertainty.  Since it was passed in 2012, DACA has granted protection from deportation and a work permit to at least 700,000 undocumented people who were brought to the United States as children.