U.S. District Judge John D. Bates in Washington says the Department of Homeland Security's decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program "was unlawful and must be set aside."
Bates is giving DHS 90 days to "better explain its view" that DACA is unlawful. After that, he says, DHS "must accept and process new as well as renewal DACA applications."
DACA temporarily shielded from deportation so-called Dreamers - immigrants brought illegally to the U.S. as children. President Donald Trump announced last year that he would end the program.
Bates' ruling Tuesday night comes in a pair of cases whose lead plaintiffs are the NAACP and Princeton University.