On September 13, 2023, a Federal Judge in Texas ruled that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is, again, in clear violation of Immigration Law.
This is the second time that the same Judge has ruled against DACA with his previous decision coming out back in July of 2021. Judge Hanen was directed by the Appeals court to re-consider his prior decision in light of the Biden administration’s issuance of regulations which were supposed to give the program more authority and, by extension, formalizing the program.
However, even after review of those updates, Judge Hanen did not believe that the regulatory reactions were enough to save DACA and that the program was still outside of the President’s constitutionally granted authority. He also noted that to strike down some parts of the law and not others would be almost impossible.
Of import is the fact that the ruling makes clear that current DACA holders still have their DACA status. However, no new applications are being considered and any pending applications appear to be on hold. The decision also contained a line that indicated that nothing in the order required US immigration authorities, “to take any immigration, deportation or criminal action against any DACA recipient, applicant or any other individual that would otherwise not be taken.”
The Biden administration is expected to appeal this decision again and we expect that this issue will ultimately end up in front of the Supreme Court docket to again decide the fate of the DACA program along with the close to 579,000 enrolled recipients. That is, unless Congress takes action to pass legislation that provides a path to citizenship to DACA recipients.
If you have any questions regarding DACA, please contact Steven Bedoya at sbedoya@bhlfirm.com or contact our office at (201) 880-9374 to schedule a consultation.