A policy designed to shield hundreds of thousands of immigrants from deportation has again been declared illegal by a federal court judge. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, was created by Pres. Barack Obama in 2012 and has been under legal fire for years. A judge ruled the policy illegal because it circumvents immigration law set by Congress.
At this time, the ruling does not impact current DACA recipients. However, those with pending applications are now in a state of limbo with no clear resolution.
“Once again there’s that uncertainty of not knowing what’s going to happen,” said Cesar Espinosa, exec. dir. of FIEL.
Espinosa is also a DACA recipient who was brought to the United States at 5 years old.
“I’m a product of HISD, product of Houston Community College, a graduate of the University of Houston, I’ve done a lot of work here, philanthropy work,” said Espinosa.
DACA allowed those brought into the country by June 15th, 2007, and before their sixteenth birthday, to be temporarily shielded from deportation and to work in the US. Among the many requirements to receive DACA, recipients must have a high school education or GED, no felony convictions, no significant misdemeanor convictions and no more than three misdemeanor convictions. DACA recipients must reapply for the program every two years. According to US Citizenship and Immigrations Services there were 578,680 active DACA recipients living in the US at the end of March.
“This morning we’ve been asked so many questions about timelines, when do we expect this to happen and there’s really no clear, definite answer,” said Espinosa.
While the ruling does not impact those already in DACA, immigration attorney Magali Suarez Candler said it leaves those with pending applications in limbo.
“As long as they’re not a priority to be removed, they have some protection, but they won’t have employment authorization,” Candler said.
USCIS states those under the age of 31 as of June 15th, 2012 could still apply for DACA and Candler said many waited to apply as adults because of bad legal advice, fear, or in the case of one client, did not know they were in the country illegally.
“She had been told by her parents she was US citizen, so she had believed she was a United States citizen,” said Candler.
This case will likely wind up before the US Supreme Court and the concern from those in program is if the high court strikes down DACA it impact all recipients, many of whom have spent the majority of their lives in the US starting families, buying homes and working.
“Congress may take this more seriously, they should take it seriously because it really could affect all of us,” said immigration attorney Raed Gonzalez.
Gonzalez said an adverse ruling impacting all DACA recipients would impact our economy and points out Congress has failed to take action to codify DACA into law.
“It’s really almost a directive and Congress should take note,” said Gonzalez.
Texas and other states sued to end DACA, claiming it is unconstitutional and arguing states are forced to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on health care, education and other costs when immigrants are allowed to remain in the US illegally. The program was struck down once before and Pres. Joe Biden’s administration tried to address judicial concerns by retooling DACA. The new version took effect in October 2022 but the judge presiding over the case ruled it was essentially the same as the previous version of DACA.
The judge’s ruling is expected to be appealed to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals and supporters of DACA plan to argue the case all the way to the US Supreme Court.