District Court Rules DACA Is Unlawful but Keeps Program Intact for Existing Beneficiaries While Legal Battle Continues
Late Wednesday, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas ruled that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program is unlawful despite regulations issued by the Biden Administration last year that codified DACA in an effort to preserve its legality.
The DACA program grants deportation protections and work permits to nearly 600,000 undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children, primarily from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. The new district court order extends the current injunction that has been in place against DACA, which bars the federal government from approving any new applications but leaves the program intact for existing beneficiaries during the ongoing litigation.