Donald Trump has criticised America’s "broken" court system after he was blocked from deporting illegal migrants brought to the country while children.
The US president’s decision to rescind protections implemented by his predecessor Barack Obama was overruled by a federal judge in California.
Around 800,000 “dreamer” migrants smuggled into the United States when children were due to be stripped of their right to work legally on March 5.
Mr Obama had granted the protections in 2012 through Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which is known as DACA.
Last September, Mr Trump, who adopted a hard line on immigration during his election campaign, dubbed the move unconstitutional and announced he would end the program.
However Judge William Alsup of Federal District Court in San Francisco ruled on Tuesday that the administration must “maintain the DACA program on a nationwide basis” while a legal challenge progresses.
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
Mr Trump criticised the decisions, tweeting that “it just shows everyone how broken and unfair our Court System is” and predicting the ruling would be overturned in higher courts.
The row came as congressmen from both political parties attempted to agree a new immigration bill that would create a permanent solution for the “dreamer” migrants, as they have been dubbed.
Democrats are pushing for permanent protections while Mr Trump and Republicans want money for a Mexico border wall and tighter immigration rules in return.
Mr Trump, whose position on “dreamers” has meandered since taking office, appeared open to protecting them in a cross-party meeting in the White House on Tuesday that was televised.
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The president said he wanted a “bill of love” – referring to the immigration legislation – and indicated he was willing to “take the heat” from those who want to deport illegal migrants.
Devin M. O’Malley, the Justice Department’s spokesman, said the ruling did not change the department’s stance.
“DACA was implemented unilaterally after Congress declined to extend these benefits to this same group of illegal aliens,” he said.
“As such, it was an unlawful circumvention of Congress, and was susceptible to the same legal challenges that effectively ended DACA.
"The Department of Homeland Security therefore acted within its lawful authority in deciding to wind down DACA in an orderly manner. "Promoting and enforcing the rule of law is vital to protecting a nation, its borders, and its citizens.”
It just shows everyone how broken and unfair our Court System is when the opposing side in a case (such as DACA) always runs to the 9th Circuit and almost always wins before being reversed by higher courts.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2018