NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal appeals court ruled Friday against an Obama-era policy aimed at protecting immigrants who came to the country illegally as young children, just three days before the Donald Trump took office, promising mass deportations.
The unanimous decision by a panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans — two judges appointed by Republican presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, and one by Democrat Barack Obama — is the latest blow to deferred action for children. Arrivals Program, whose beneficiaries have been living in legal limbo for more than a decade.
This signals no immediate change for its more than 500,000 beneficiaries, who can renew their temporary permits to live and work in the United States. But the federal government can’t accept new applications, leaving an aging and shrinking pool of beneficiaries.
The decision could result in a third visit to the Supreme Court. Trump sought to end DACA during his first term, but he also sometimes expressed a wish that recipients would be allowed to stay.
Obama introduced DACA in 2012, citing congressional inaction on legislation to give people brought to the United States as children a path to legal status. Legal battles followed, including two trips to the Supreme Court.
This latest case involves a new version of the rule issued by President Joe Biden in 2022. It represented few substantive changes from the 2012 memo that created DACA, but it was subject to public comment in the part of a formal rule-making process intended to improve its chances of surviving legal assembly.
U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen in Houston said the executive branch overstepped its authority and barred the government from approving new requests. He left it intact for current beneficiaries while appeals were heard in court.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who led the challenge on behalf of Republican-led states, called Friday’s ruling a “major victory.”
“I look forward to working with President-elect Donald Trump to ensure the rule of law is restored and the illegal immigration crisis ends,” Paxton said.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Friday evening.
In 2016, with a vacancy on the Supreme Court, the justices deadlocked 4-4 on expanded DACA and a version of the program for parents of DACA recipients, keeping in place a court ruling inferior requesting the blocking of benefits. In 2020, the high court ruled 5-4 that the Trump administration inappropriately ended DACA by failing to follow federal procedures, thereby allowing it to remain in place.
