Second judge rules against Trump administration on ending DACA

For the second time in as many months, a federal judge has barred the Trump administration from ending the Obama-era DACA program next month.

U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis in New York ruled Tuesday that Attorney General Jeff Sessions had "erred in concluding that DACA is unconstitutional" and granted a preliminary injunction sought by state attorneys general and immigrants who had sued the administration.

The Justice Department had no immediate comment on Garaufis' ruling.Last month, U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco ruled that DACA must remain in place while litigation surrounding the program is ongoing. The U.S. Supreme Court is currently considering whether to take up the Trump administration's appeal of that ruling.

The ruling came down as debate in the Senate on immigration reform struggled to gain traction, with Republican and Democratic leaders immediately at loggerheads over how to move forward and President Donald Trump warning this was the "last chance" to extend protections to "Dreamer" immigrants.

Trump announced this past September that he was ending the DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, program. The move gave Congress a March 5 deadline to create a legislative replacement for the program, but was almost immediately challenged in court.

The White House has sought increased funding for border security, including a wall across the U.S.-Mexico border, in exchange for providing a path to citizenship for 1.8 million immigrants.