What’s the future for Dreamers?

The Supreme Court has narrowly blocked the Trump administration’s bid to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The Obama-era policy protects hundreds of thousands of young immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children from deportation and allows them to work legally.

While the Trump administration is undisputedly authorized to rescind the DACA program, the justices ruled 5-4 that the administration had failed to follow proper procedure and violated the Administrative Procedure Act in its attempt to end the program. Chief Justice John Roberts, who broke with his conservative colleagues, wrote in the majority opinion that the administration did not provide an adequate explanation for ending the program.

In the court’s main dissent, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that the DACA program is unlawful. Only Justice Sonia Sotomayor concluded that the administration was motivated by race in its attempt to rescind the program.