Appeals Court Rules DACA, Obama-Era Immigration Program, Illegal

A federal appeals court ruled Friday against an Obama-era program that protected hundreds of thousands of undocumented people from deportation. But in its ruling on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, the three-judge panel did not allow the deportation of current recipients and said it was suspending its decision to allow the decision to be appealed.

The opinion from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit marks the latest legal twist in a long-running fight over the fate of DACA, and it comes just three days before the inauguration of President-elect Donald J. Trump, who sought to end the program during his first term.

A federal district court in Texas ruled in 2021 that DACA was illegal, and that ruling was upheld in part by the Fifth Circuit in its ruling Friday. But the appeals court ruled that an injunction ordered by the lower court for the entire country should instead be limited to Texas, and that current DACA recipients could continue to renew their status nationwide.

“Because Texas is the only plaintiff to have demonstrated or even attempted to demonstrate actual harm, and because that harm is entirely recoverable by a geographically limited injunction, we limit the scope of the injunction to Texas,” the decision states. .

The appeals court stayed its decision, and as a result, no current DACA recipient is immediately vulnerable to removal from the country. They will also be able to continue working legally in the country, at least for now, and likely until an appeal process is completed.

Currently, approximately 540,000 people are enrolled in the program.

DACA recipients, often called Dreamers, have been able to obtain driver’s licenses in states that do not issue them to illegal immigrants. They are also eligible for in-state tuition and state-funded scholarships and loans in some states, as well as health care.