Supreme Court Rules DACA, Obama-era Immigration Program, Unlawful

A federal appeals court ruled Friday against an Obama-era program that protected hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants from deportation. But in their ruling on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, the three justices stopped short of deporting current beneficiaries and said they would stay his decision to allow the appeal of the judgment.

The decision, by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, is the latest legal twist in the long-running battle over the fate of DACA, and comes just three days before the inauguration of President-elect Donald J. Trump. who sought to end the program during his first term.

A federal district court in Texas ruled in 2021 that DACA was illegal, and that decision was upheld by the Fifth Circuit in its decision on Friday. But the high court ruled that the lower court’s nationwide ruling should be limited to Texas, and current DACA recipients can continue to renew their status throughout the country. the country.

“Because Texas is the only plaintiff that has shown or attempted to show an actual injury, and because that injury is fully remediable through a geographically limited injunction, the scope of the injunction is narrow to Texas,” the ruling said. – court.

The appeals court stayed its ruling, and therefore no DACA beneficiaries can immediately be deported. They can also continue to work legally in the country, at least for now, and likely until the appeals process is over.

Currently, approximately 540,000 people are enrolled in the program.

DACA beneficiaries, often referred to as Dreamers, have been able to obtain driver’s licenses in states that do not grant them to undocumented immigrants. They also qualify for in-state tuition and subsidized educational assistance and loans in some states, as well as health care.

The average age of the recipient was 21 years when the program was established. Today, most of them are in their 30s. Many have completed college, established careers and started families. If DACA ends, they will no longer be allowed to work in the United States. .

Several large employers, including IBM, Verizon and Starbucks, warned in a brief for the Fifth Circuit that the end of DACA would have a negative impact on the United States and its economy as Dreamers fill the lack of workers, create businesses and pay taxes.

The largest group of Dreamers is from Mexico. Others were born in Central or South America and the Caribbean, and some from Africa and Asia.

If the incoming Trump administration tries to end DACA, which it has previously planned to do, the case could still be appealed — as it was in Mr. Trump’s first term — and could go back to the Supreme Court.

A previous judge ruled that the Trump administration did not follow the proper procedures to end the program, but did not consider whether DACA was legal.

The Biden administration issued rules to interpret DACA, but the court said in its decision on Friday that the administration violated US immigration law when it sought to “preserve and strengthen” DACA in the official rules of 2022.

Lawyers who have defended the program in court said Friday’s ruling provided amnesty for those who were granted it, although the fate of DACA remains unclear.

“Today’s decision leaves an important part of DACA intact,” said Nina Perales, an attorney at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, a nonprofit that represents DACA recipients.

“By limiting the Texas case, the decision protects the majority of DACA recipients in the United States, and even in Texas the court has said it will continue to protect people from DACA removal,” he said. .

When it first adopted the DACA program in 2012, the Obama administration said it was intended as a temporary fix until Congress passed legislation to protect undocumented youth.

Protection is offered to unauthorized immigrants who are under the age of 31, brought to the country as children, have completed a high school education and meet other requirements. It did not provide a path to US citizenship, and recipients must reapply every two years.

But in an increasingly volatile Congress, no legislation has been enacted, even though the Dreamers have the support of many Republican lawmakers and the majority of the American public, according to polls.

As of mid-2021, after a Texas court ruled that DACA was illegal, only renewals were approved; no new immigrants were allowed to register. Many DACA recipients have children who are US citizens.