(USA Today) A federal appeals court Wednesday ruled that an Obama-era policy that protects undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children violated federal law but it sent a Biden administration effort to shore up the program back to a lower federal court for further consideration.
The decision from a three-judge panel of the New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit sided with Texas and other conservative states that sued in 2018 but maintained the status quo for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
The court made clear it was not ruling on a new regulation created by the Biden administration in August in an effort to shore up the program from legal challenges. The appeals court sent the case back to federal district court to review that rule. The Obama-era memorandum at issue was already set to run out at the end of this month.
A federal appeals court Wednesday ruled that an Obama-era policy that protects undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children violated federal law but it sent a Biden administration effort to shore up the program back to a lower federal court for further consideration.
The decision from a three-judge panel of the New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit sided with Texas and other conservative states that sued in 2018 but maintained the status quo for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
The court made clear it was not ruling on a new regulation created by the Biden administration in August in an effort to shore up the program from legal challenges. The appeals court sent the case back to federal district court to review that rule. The Obama-era memorandum at issue was already set to run out at the end of this month.
This incorrect ruling doesn’t take away anyone’s DACA protections today, but it allows state officials to continue their effort to end the program,” said Omar Jadwat, director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project. “As a result, Dreamers and their families will continue to live in uncertainty and fear that the limited protections they have could go away at any moment.”
Aides to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Supporters, including President Joe Biden, said the policy helped people who had no choice about entering the United States and had little connection to their home country. Critics said it forced taxpayers to shoulder the cost of social services for people who were in the country illegally.
