US Court of Appeals Decides DACA, an Immigration Policy from Obama’s time, is Illegal

In New Orleans, a federal appeals court has made a ruling against a policy from the Obama administration that aimed to protect immigrants who arrived in the country unlawfully as children. This decision comes just days before Donald Trump’s inauguration, where he has expressed intentions of carrying out large-scale deportations.

The ruling, issued by a panel of judges from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, composed of two judges appointed by Republican presidents and one by Democrat Barack Obama, is another setback for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The program’s beneficiaries have been in a state of legal uncertainty for over ten years.

This ruling does not bring immediate changes for the program’s 500,000 plus beneficiaries, as they can still renew their temporary permits to reside and work in the U.S. However, the government is not accepting new applications, resulting in a dwindling number of recipients due to natural attrition.

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The decision may tee up the policy for a third visit to the Supreme Court. Trump sought to end DACA during his first term, but he also occasionally expressed wishes that beneficiaries be allowed to stay.

Obama introduced DACA in 2012, citing inaction by Congress on legislation aimed at giving those brought to the U.S. as children a path to legal status. Legal battles followed, including two trips to the Supreme Court.

This latest case involves a new version of the rule issued by President Joe Biden in 2022. It represented little substantive change from the 2012 memo that created DACA, but it was subject to public comment as part of a formal rule-making process intended to improve its chances of surviving legal muster.

U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen in Houston said the executive branch had overstepped its authority and barred he government from approving new applications. He left it intact for current beneficiaries while appeals played out in court.

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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who led the challenge on behalf of Republican-led states, called Friday’s ruling “a major victory.”

“I look forward to working with President-elect Donald Trump to ensure that the rule of law is restored, and the illegal immigration crisis is finally stopped,” Paxton said.

The U.S. Homeland Security Department didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment late Friday.

In 2016, with one vacancy on the Supreme Court, the justices deadlocked 4-4 over an expanded DACA and a version of the program for parents of DACA recipients, keeping in place a lower court decision for the benefits to be blocked. In 2020, the high court ruled 5-4 that the Trump administration improperly ended DACA by failing to follow federal procedures, allowing it to stay in place.