Judge: Trump’s anti-Mexico comments undercut DACA phaseout
https://twt-thumbs.washtimes.com/med...d53befb830974c
By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times - Saturday, January 13, 2018
Yet another federal judge has ruled that President Trump showed “clear cut indications of racial prejudice” against Mexicans during the campaign, and he used that in a new decision Friday to further dent the administration’s efforts to end the Obama-era DACA deportation amnesty.
Judge William Alsup, who earlier in the week had blocked the DACA phaseout and ordered the government to start accepting amnesty renewals again, issued a second order adding more reasons to his decision.
He said that the immigrant-rights advocates had proved Mr. Trump’s actions were unconstitutional because they targeted Mexicans, after the president during the campaign complained about the types of people coming into the U.S. from its southern neighbor.
While acknowledging a gap of two years between some of the comments and the president’s action, Judge Alsup said he was still able to draw a direct line between Mr. Trump’s complaint in June 2015 that Mexico sends rapists and criminals to the U.S. and his September 2017 decision to phase out DACA.
“Are clear cut indications of racial prejudice on the campaign trail to be forgotten altogether?” Judge Alsup, a Clinton appointee to the bench, said in his latest ruling.
He said the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had itself used Mr. Trump’s campaign comments to rule his travel ban policies illegal. And while the Supreme Court has several times delivered spankings to the lower courts for their attempts to block the travel ban, Judge Alsup said he felt justified in using the campaign comments against Mr. Trump — at least for now.
Judge: Trump’s anti-Mexico comments undercut DACA phaseout