WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court panel ruled Wednesday that a program that protects nearly 600,000 young immigrants from deportation is illegal but allows those who have already applied to renew their status. them – essentially preserving the state of the program but its future uncertain.
The decision from the three-judge panel on the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Court – one of the country’s most conservative federal appeals courts – asserts a 2021 lower court decision. The Biden administration will need to continue its legal battle to enroll new applicants in the program, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.
The judges sent the case back to the Federal District Court in Houston for a review new management policy released in August to protect the show. The new regulation is expected to go into effect at the end of the month.
Wednesday’s ruling is the latest in a series of court rulings and administration actions over the years that have annulled, restored or rolled back portions of the DACA program. For a long time, it looked like the case would eventually go to the Supreme Court.
Immigration advocates say the ruling signals that the only chance for DACA to survive is for Congress to pass legislation protecting young immigrants, something they haven’t been able to do for more than two decades. .
President Biden
With the midterm elections approaching, this is where President Biden stands.
“This decision makes it 100 per cent clear that the options for maintaining DACA in court are dwindling and essentially non-existent by the end of the year,” said Jess Hanson, a staff attorney at the National Immigration Law Center. this moment”. “We really need a push from Congress.”
Democrats have been trying to maintain the Obama-era program for years.
Former President Barack Obama created DACA through action in 2012 after years of inactivity in Congress to provide permanent protections for immigrants brought to the country as children, a group that is called “Dreamers”.
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It was intended as a deterrent to provide hundreds of thousands of young immigrants with protection from deportation. The protection lasts every two years and is renewable, but it does not provide a pathway to citizenship.
Immigrants in the DACA program average about 26 years old, with the oldest nearing 40. Most were brought to the country from Mexico; others were born in other Latin American countries and the Caribbean. Many of the DACA recipients were able to raise families, buy homes, and work in their field of study, but their status was precarious for many years.
In June 2020, the Supreme Court ruled against the Trump administration’s decision to terminate the program. However, the court did not rule on whether the program was legally approved. One of President Biden’s first actions while in office was to strengthen the DACA program. But the 2021 Texas court ruling has renewed the uncertainty surrounding it.
On Wednesday, the judges wrote that while they agreed with lower court that the DACA program was illegal, they “also recognized that DACA has profound implications for recipients and many others in the 10 years since its adoption.”
The Justice Department worked with the Department of Homeland Security on its response to the ruling.
In a statement late Wednesday, Mr. Biden reiterated his administration’s commitment to protecting the status of DACA recipients.
The court stay provides a temporary stipend for DACA recipients, but one thing remains clear: The Dreamers’ lives remain in limbo, he said. “Today’s decision is the result of continued efforts by Republican state officials to strip DACA recipients of protections and work authorizations that many have now kept for more than a year. decade.”
The Biden administration has repeatedly urged lawmakers to pass legislation that protects young undocumented immigrants. But the Democratic-led Congress is running out of time to find a lasting solution, especially if Republicans win back. control the house in the November 8 midterm elections.
