A federal court has again declared illegal a federal program that aims to protect undocumented immigrants brought to America as young children from deportations.
The Wednesday ruling by Judge Andrew S. Hanen of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas against the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, serves as a blow to the Biden administration, which sought to codify the policy into federal regulation last year. It also further undermines the legal standing of hundreds of thousands of undocumented Americans.
“We are deeply disappointed in today’s DACA ruling,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement. The Biden administration disagrees with the ruling and will continue to defend DACA from legal challenges, she added.
Although the ruling means no new applications will be allowed, Hanen, a Republican appointee, said that those who have “received their initial DACA status prior to July 16, 2021,” can “continue to administer the program.” This includes the right to renew their DACA applications, he said.
Thomas A. Saenz, the president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, welcomed Hanen’s decision to allow “current DACA recipients to continue to renew their DACA” applications. But higher courts, including the Supreme Court, will have to ultimately decide DACA’s fate, he said.
President Barack Obama created DACA in 2012 by executive action, not an act of Congress, attracting repeated legal challenges from Republicans.
In 2017, President Donald Trump announced that his administration would end the program, calling it unconstitutional and demanding that Congress address the issue. But in 2020 the Supreme Court blocked the attempt, saying the administration had not provided proper legal justification for ending the program. The high court did not weigh in on whether the program itself was lawful and allowed legal challenges against DACA to continue.
In July 2021, Hanen ruled DACA was illegal, saying Obama had overstepped his authority. Months later, the Biden administration sought to “preserve and fortify” DACA by codifying it into federal regulation.
The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Hanen’s decision in the next year but sent the case back to the district court for further consideration in light of the administration’s pending changes.
In January, the Republican attorneys general of nine states challenged that attempt, saying the Biden administration’s proposal violated the Administrative Procedure Act, among other potential violations. The states argued that the Biden administration’s effort “was materially the same as the 2012 DACA Memorandum” written by the Obama administration.
In his ruling Wednesday, Hanen agreed: Although the Biden administration’s revised policy “may have used somewhat different wording in a few places, the substantive portions are materially the same as the 2012 DACA Memorandum.”
“While sympathetic to the predicament of DACA recipients and their families,” Hanen wrote, “this Court has expressed its concerns about the legality of the program for some time. The solution for these deficiencies lies with the legislature, not the executive or judicial branches.”
As of March, DACA was protecting more than 578,000 active recipients, often called “dreamers,” from abrupt deportations, while also providing them with education and work opportunities. It has also given them access to social security numbers and the ability to obtain a driver’s license.
DACA beneficiaries predominantly come from Latin America, but also hail from Asia, Africa and Canada, according to the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan D.C. think tank.
The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, a Los Angeles-based group, described the latest ruling as “political, pathetic, and cruel.” Fatima Flores-Lagunas, the political director of the group, said in a statement that the ruling “is a infuriating reminder of Congressional cowardice.”
Efrain Hernandez Jr. contributed to this report.
