Judge Declares Biden Version of DACA Illegal; Federal Judge Again Declares that DACA is Illegal with Issue Likely to be Decided by Supreme Court

Judge declares Biden version of DACA illegal:

The ruling keeps the program intact for now for hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children.

A federal judge in Texas on Wednesday again ruled that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is illegal, but kept it intact for now for hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children.

After the Biden administration moved last year to finalize a rule to codify the Obama-era DACA policy into a federal regulation, a group of Republican-led states challenged the effort and asked Texas-based U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen to shut down the program in its entirety over two years.

As expected, Hanen on Wednesday ruled the Biden administration’s effort unlawful, but refrained from terminating the program and maintained the status quo for current DACA recipients.

For more than a decade, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy has allowed more than 580,000 undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children to receive work permits and deportation relief. Hanen’s latest decision pushes the program one step closer to the Supreme Court, where advocates and legal experts warn that the conservative bench seems likely to rule the program illegal.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said that he was “deeply disappointed” by Wednesday’s ruling, pointing to both his role in implementing the final rule and as the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in 2012, when he led the development of DACA.

“The ruling preserves the stay, which means current DACA recipients will not lose their protection from removal. But this ruling does undermine the security and stability of more than half a million Dreamers who have contributed to our communities. The United States is the only home they have ever known. Congress has failed to act, and now Dreamers face an uncertain future, waiting to receive the permanent protection they deserve,” Mayorkas said in a statement.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre similarly criticized the ruling in a late-night statement, pointing to President Joe Biden’s efforts to protect and defend the program against legal action. She also reupped the White House’s calls for Congress to provide permanent protection for so-called Dreamers.

Hanen, who has ruled repeatedly against earlier versions of DACA, was blunt in his conclusion that the Department of Homeland Security hadn’t really tweaked the program at all despite the extensive notice-and-comment process the government carried out. —>READ MORE HERE

Federal judge again declares that DACA is illegal with issue likely to be decided by Supreme Court:

While a federal judge on Wednesday declared illegal a revised version of a federal policy that prevents the deportation of hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, he declined to order an immediate end to the program and the protections it offers to recipients.

U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen agreed with Texas and eight other states suing to stop the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program. The judge’s ruling was ultimately expected to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, sending the program’s fate before the high court for a third time.

“While sympathetic to the predicament of DACA recipients and their families, this Court has expressed its concerns about the legality of the program for some time,” Hanen wrote in his 40-page ruling. “The solution for these deficiencies lies with the legislature, not the executive or judicial branches. Congress, for any number of reasons, has decided not to pass DACA-like legislation … The Executive Branch cannot usurp the power bestowed on Congress by the Constitution – even to fill a void.”

Hanen’s order extended the current injunction that had been in place against DACA, which barred the government from approving any new applications, but left the program intact for existing recipients during the ongoing legal review.

Hanen also declined a request by the states to order the program’s end within two years. Hanen said his order does not require the federal government to take any actions against DACA recipients, who are known as “Dreamers.”

Thomas Saenz, president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, or MALDEF, which is representing DACA recipients in the lawsuit, said it will ultimately be up to higher courts, including the Supreme Court, to rule on DACA’s legality and whether Texas proved it had been harmed by the program. —>READ MORE HERE

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