The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has again ruled the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy is illegal.
The court issued a 38-page opinion Friday in “the latest chapter in the long-running litigation challenging” DACA, it said.
Texas first sued to end DACA in 2019, joined by 10 states, including Arizona, The Center Square reported. After Arizona elected a Democrat governor, it’s no longer part of the original coalition, which includes Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Carolina, West Virginia, Kansas and Mississippi.
In 2021, a district court held that Texas had standing to challenge DACA and ruled that DACA is procedurally and substantively unlawful. The ruling was appealed to the Fifth Circuit, which upheld the district court’s ruling. In 2022, the Fifth Circuit ruled DACA was illegal but didn’t end the program. Instead, it ordered the federal government not to approve any new DACA applications, The Center Square reported.
Next, the Biden administration’s Department of Homeland Security promulgated another rule on DACA, which the coalition challenged. Throughout the litigation process, the federal government argued Texas didn’t have standing to sue.
In 2023, the district court again ruled DACA was illegal, The Center Square reported. The court held that Texas and the states still had standing to challenge DACA and the final rule “is substantively unlawful.” It vacated the rule and implemented a nationwide injunction, which remains in effect.
The district court maintains that DACA is illegal and the solution lies with Congress, “not the executive or judicial branches. … The Executive Branch cannot usurp the power bestowed on Congress by the Constitution – even to fill a void.”
The ruling was again appealed and the Fifth Circuit on Friday upheld the district court’s decision.
“We largely agree with the district court and thus affirm its judgment,” the Fifth Circuit said. This time, it limited the injunction to Texas only but maintained the stay pending appeal. It also remanded the case back to the district court.
The future of DACA remains uncertain since President-elect Donald Trump has flipped on the issue. In his first administration, he was against it. In 2017, then Attorney General Jeff Sessions sought to end the program through executive action, was sued and lost. In 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled his actions violated the law but didn’t rule on the legality of DACA.
Last month, Trump said he’d work on a plan to ensure DACA recipients remain in the U.S., a reversal of his prior position.
Twenty Republican attorneys general called on Trump to end DACA once and for all, saying, “As he promised to do at the end of his first term, we trust that President Trump will fully rescind the unlawful DACA programs.”
Federal judges continue to rule against DACA in court in other cases. The latest ruled that taxpayer money cannot be used to provide free healthcare for DACA recipients. Another ruled the president cannot provide blanket amnesty or extend the program.
Numerous reports suggest between 700,000 and 800,000 DACA recipients live in the U.S. The Los Angeles Times reports there are 578,680 on record with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services as of March 2023.
DACA supporters argue recipients should be granted citizenship, claiming they contribute to the U.S. economy and are constructive members of society.
Others argue those with criminal records, at a minimum, should be deported. Within the first five years of the program, nearly 80,000 DACA recipients were released into the U.S. with arrest records, The Center Square reported.
