The state of Texas was back before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals October 10, in the latest effort to stop the popular Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. For more than a decade, DACA has protected hundreds of thousands of young immigrants from deportation.
As Julian Aguilar, with the Texas Newsroom reports, attorneys representing Texas asked the three-judge panel in New Orleans to keep in place a Sept. 2023 ruling from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. The ruling declared DACA was unlawfully implemented. The state has argued it faces unnecessary costs under the program associated with educating and providing health care to DACA recipients. But attorneys for the Biden administration and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund said Texas hasn’t proven that harm and lacks standing to have the program halted.
DACA was started by executive action by former President Barak Obama. It provides a reprieve from deportation and a renewable two-year work permit. The Biden administration attempted to codify DACA in 2022 . But Texas and other Republican states, including Arkansas and Louisiana, again sued to end the program.
The litigation has prevented new applications from being approved but renewals are still being processed. It’s unclear when the judges will rule but the ultimate decision will likely come from the United States Supreme Court.
