DACA Decision May Shut Out Hundreds of Thousands of Child Arrivals
As an appeals court decision looms on the future of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the Biden administration codified DACA into regulatory law this week.
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An appeals court will decide soon if the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program can continue, the Texas Tribune reports. Texas and other Republican-led states sued the federal government in 2018, claiming that the Obama administration exceeded its authority by establishing DACA without the consent of Congress.
The lawsuit has resulted in a protracted legal dispute and now the program may end up shuttered. The decision by U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen to freeze the processing of new DACA applications has resulted in the suspension of 93,000 first-time applications nationwide.
The decision by U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen to freeze the processing of new DACA applications has resulted in the suspension of 93,000 first-time applications nationwide.
The Biden administration appealed Hanen’s ruling in 2021 and both sides made arguments in July. Now, legal experts and immigrant rights advocates anticipate that the three-judge appellate panel will affirm Hanen’s decision, potentially ending the program and preventing recipients from renewing their DACA status.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration has taken action to fight the impending decision: the White House codified DACA into regulatory law this week.
The administration also rescinded the original 2012 memo released by then-U.S. Department of Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano that created DACA as a legal maneuver to help counter Hanen’s ruling, which claimed the government didn’t properly implement the immigration program in 2012.
