Appeals court weighs fate of DACA protections for 500,000 "Dreamers" brought to U.S. as children
Source: CBS News
Updated on: October 10, 2024 / 9:02 PM EDT
A federal appeals court on Thursday weighed the fate of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy, or DACA, the Obama-era program that currently allows more than half a million undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children to live and work in the country without fear of deportation.
Enacted in 2012 to protect a population colloquially known as "Dreamers," DACA has been the subject of a years-long court battle and remains in legal jeopardy due to a lawsuit by Texas and other Republican-led states that oppose the policy.
On Thursday morning, a panel of judges on the New Orleans-based Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit heard oral arguments over the legality of a Biden administration effort in 2021 to codify the program, initially implemented through a memo, into a federal regulation. At the lower court level, U.S. District Court Andrew Hanen declared the Biden administration's move unlawful last year.
Hanen and the 5th Circuit have also ruled against the original DACA memo in recent years, finding that the Obama administration did not have the legality authority to grant deportation protections and work permits to hundreds of thousands of unauthorized immigrants without congressional action. But both Hanen and the 5th Circuit limited their rulings against DACA, closing the program to new applicants but allowing current recipients to continue renewing their two-year work permits and deportation deferrals.
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/daca-appeals-court-dreamers-deportation-protections/