A modified version of the federal policy known as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that prevented the deportation of thousands of immigrants brought to the US as children has once again been ruled illegal by a federal judge. which gave the same decision before.
US District Judge Andrew Hanen said in his decision on Wednesday that on July 16, 2021, the court vacates the DACA program created by the 2012 DACA Memorandum, which prohibits the US, its departments, agencies, officials, agents, and employee to grant new DACA applications and administer the program.
Hanen’s decision was then affirmed by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and Wednesday, he reaffirmed.
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Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program activists rally at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, June 15, 2022. A revised version of DACA, a federal policy that prevented the deportation of hundreds thousands of immigrants brought to the US as children. , was deemed illegal Wednesday for the second time by a federal judge. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite/File)
“That program is vacated, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHA) is directed to implement the DACA Final Rule until further order by the Court, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, or the United States Supreme Court,” Hanen wrote. .
The judge also said the defendants may continue to administer the program to individuals who received their initial DACA status before July 16, 2021, which may include processing and granting DACA renewal applications for those individuals.
He also said that DHS may continue to accept initial applications, although it “may not grant anything,” and the department is advised to post a public notice of the order on its website and other websites. to all relevant agencies involved in the administration or processing of DACA.
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Pro-DACA protesters hold a march outside the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC (Nathan Posner/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images/File)
“Final Judgment has not yet been entered in this case, so all matters not addressed by an appellate court are pending before this Court and subject to its jurisdiction,” Hanen wrote.
The decision comes more than a month after lawyers representing the states of Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Carolina, West Virginia, Kansas and Mississippi – all states sued to end the program during Obama – as well as attorneys for the US Department of Justice and DACA recipients – should appear before Hanen to debate the issue.
Hanen, in 2021, declared DACA illegal, ruling that the program was not subject to public notice and comment periods required under the federal Administrative Procedures Act. He also said that the nine states seeking to end DACA have standing to file their lawsuits because they were harmed by the program.
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A US Border Patrol agent speaks with migrants before they are transferred from a makeshift camp in San Diego, Calif. (Mario Tama/Getty Images/File)
States claim they will incur hundreds of millions of dollars in health care, education and other costs if immigrants are allowed to remain in the country illegally.
While the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Hanen’s decision in 2022, the court sent the case back to the judge to review changes made to the program by the Biden administration.
In court filings, Texas and other states argued that the updated program is essentially the same as the 2012 memo that first created it and remains “unlawful and unconstitutional.” The states also argued that the White House overstepped its authority by granting immigration benefits that were up to Congress to decide.
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The US Department of Justice argued in court filings that states failed to show any direct harm caused by DACA, and that Congress gave the Department of Homeland Security the “authority and duty to set enforcement policies on immigration.”
There were 580,310 people enrolled in DACA at the end of December, according to US Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
