The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is unlawful.
DACA gives deportation protection and other benefits to immigrants who entered the country illegally as children.
The court of appeals decided to uphold a lower court decision blocking the Biden administration from granting new applications for DACA. The ruling, however, allows current DACA recipients to renew their two-year protected status, The Christian Post reports.
"DACA created a detailed, streamlined process for granting enormously significant, predefined benefits to over 800,000 people. This constitutes a substantive rule," Fifth Circuit Chief Judge Priscilla Richman, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, wrote in the majority opinion.
"Because DACA did not undergo notice and comment, it violates the procedural requirements of the APA (Administrative Procedures Act).
DACA was launched in 2012 during President Barack Obama's term. The program gave minors brought into the U.S. illegally protection from being deported and the ability to apply for a driver's license, a social security number and a work permit.
The program was conditional and required "dreamers" to have no criminal record, be a student or an honorably discharged veteran, and have been under the age of 30 when the program launched. They also needed to have lived in the U.S. for more than five years since 2012.
According to reports, more than 800,000 immigrants were protected under the program. DACA, however, did not provide dreamers with a way to obtain citizenship or official legal status in the U.S.
In 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court voted down a Trump administration effort to end the program.
In July 2021, U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen issued an order to suspend the Biden administration from granting new applications for DACA, saying the program violated the APA.
The most recent ruling upholds that decision.
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Stuartmiles99
Amanda Casanova is a writer living in Dallas, Texas. She has covered news for ChristianHeadlines.com since 2014. She has also contributed to The Houston Chronicle, U.S. News and World Report and IBelieve.com. She blogs at The Migraine Runner.
