September 13, 2023
DACA is illegal.
So says a federal judge in Texas just moments ago. But it’s not going away – for now.
Now – this isn’t the first time this federal judge has ruled the program unlawful. DACA stands for deferred action for childhood arrival. It’s a program created by an executive order of then President Obama back in 2012 which has shielded hundreds of thousands of very specific undocumented young adults who were brought here as children from deportation and allows them to legally work in the united states. Sometimes you’ll people refer to these young people as “dreamers.”
Back in 2021 this same Texas federal judge ruled the program was illegal when Obama created it because it was not publicity noticed and there was no public comment period as required under the law. Several Republican led states sued saying this program cost them hundreds of millions of dollars in health care, education and other costs. (Texas Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Carolina, West Virginia, Kansas and Mississippi).
So the Biden administration tried to satisfy the judge’s concerns and came up with a new version of DACA that did have the required public comments and took effect in October of 2022.
Well today, in a 40-page opinion the federal judge said that version was illegal too. He said but he did not mandate an immediate end to the program. Current DACA recipients will be allowed to keep and renew their protections but no new applications will be allowed. It is almost certain the Biden administration will appeal this ruling and it could find its way back to the supreme court. As of march of this year there are about 580-thousand DACA recipients in the United States.
Read the ruling from the federal judge here.
