Federal judge orders Biden to BLOCK new DACA applications after ruling Obama illegally created program shielding 650,000 migrant children from deportation
- U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen sided with a group of states suing to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program
- He argued it was illegally created by former President Barack Obama in 2012
- More than 650,000 young migrants are currently enrolled in the program
- President Biden has said he wants to create a permanent pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients, known as 'Dreamers'
- Since his first day in office he has sought to reverse most of Trump's strict immigration policies
By Wires
Published: 17:27 EDT, 16 July 2021 | Updated: 22:02 EDT, 16 July 2021
A U.S. federal judge in Texas on Friday blocked new applications to a program that protects immigrants who were brought to the United States as children from deportation.
U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen sided with a group of states suing to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, arguing it was illegally created by former President Barack Obama in 2012.
Hanen found the program violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) when it was created but said that since there were so many people currently enrolled in the program - nearly 650,000 - his ruling would be temporarily stayed for their cases until further court rulings in the case.
'To be clear,' the judge said, the order does not require the government to take 'any immigration, deportation or criminal action against any DACA recipient.'
President Joe Biden, who was vice president when Obama created the program, has said he wants to create a permanent pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients, known as 'Dreamers.'
Biden issued a memorandum on his first day in office directing the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to take 'all actions he deems appropriate' to 'preserve and fortify' the program, which former President Donald Trump, a Republican, tried to end.
The U.S. Supreme Court last year blocked a bid by Trump to end DACA, saying that his administration had done so in an 'arbitrary and capricious' manner.
Immigrants and advocates urged Democrats and President Joe Biden to quickly act on legislation to protect young immigrants after the Friday decision.
Calling the ruling a 'blaring siren' for Democrats, United We Dream Executive Director Greisa Martinez Rosas said they would be solely to blame if legislative reform doesn't happen.
'Until the president and Democrats in Congress deliver on citizenship, the lives of millions will remain on the line,' Martinez Rosas said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in a statement Friday evening, vowed that Democrats will continue to push for passage of the DREAM Act, and called on Republicans 'to join us in respecting the will of the American people and the law, to ensure that Dreamers have a permanent path to citizenship.'
Biden has already proposed legislation that would provide a pathway to citizenship for the estimated 11 million people living in the U.S. without authorization. He also ordered agencies to make efforts to preserve the program.
Supporters of DACA, including those who argued before Hanen to save it, have said a law passed by Congress is necessary to provide permanent relief. Hanen has said Congress must act if the U.S. wants to provide the protections in DACA to recipients commonly known as 'Dreamers,' based on never-passed proposals in Congress called the DREAM Act.
The House approved legislation in March creating a pathway toward citizenship for 'Dreamers,' but the measure has stalled in the Senate. Immigration advocates hope to include a provision opening that citizenship doorway in sweeping budget legislation Democrats want to approve this year, but it's unclear whether that language will survive.
Suing alongside Texas were Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, South Carolina, and West Virginia — states that all had Republican governors or state attorneys general.
They argued that Obama didn't have the authority to create DACA because it circumvented Congress. The states also argued that the program drains their educational and healthcare resources.
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the New Jersey Attorney General's Office, which defended the program on behalf of some DACA recipients, argued Obama did have the authority and that the states lacked the standing to sue because they had not suffered any harm due to the program.
Thomas Saenz, president of MALDEF, said Friday that plaintiffs will file an appeal.
'Today's decision then once more emphasizes how critically important it is that the Congress step up to reflect the will of a supermajority of citizens and voters in this country. That will is to see DACA recipients and other young immigrants similarly situated receive legislative action that will grant them a pathway to permanence and citizenship in our country,' Saenz said.
While DACA is often described as a program for young immigrants, many recipients have lived in the U.S. for a decade or longer after being brought into the country without permission or overstaying visas. The liberal Center for American Progress says roughly 254,000 children have at least one parent relying on DACA. Some recipients are grandparents.
Todd Schulte, president of FWD.us, a progressive organization, expressed disappointment at Friday's ruling, saying in a statement that DACA has been a big success that has transformed many lives.
'Today makes absolutely clear: only a permanent legislative solution passed by Congress will eliminate the fear and uncertainty that DACA recipients have been forced to live with for years. We call on each and every elected office to do everything within their power so that DACA recipients and their families and communities can live free from fear, and continue to build their lives here,' Schulte said.
The decision comes on the day the new Customs and Border Protection figures revealed that 188,829 migrants were stopped at the southwest border in June, the sixth monthly increase since the start of 2021.
It was also another increase on the 180,641 who were apprehended in May.
These statistics just account for the apprehensions, and doesn't include the migrants who cross undetected.
According to reports that is up to 1,500 people every day.
It is still not immediately clear where exactly these asylum seekers and illegal crossers are being sent after they are transferred out of federal immigration agencies' custody.
The June numbers mean that almost 1.2 million migrants could have already entered the US since the beginning of the year and more than 2.3 million people could cross into the US by the end of 2021, if the pace of apprehensions and those who avoid detection remain the same.
There also appears to be no available statistics on how many immigrants who are encountered and taken into custody are sent back to Mexico, or their origin countries, compared to those who are put in an alternatives to detention programs or otherwise released into the U.S.
