Appeals court rules against Obama-era policy to shield immigrants who came to US as young children (DACA)

Channel 3000 News/AP ^ | January 18, 2025 | AP Bitter LOSERS

[Diana in Wisconsin]

A federal appeals court on Friday ruled against an Obama-era policy to shield immigrants who came to the country illegally as young children, only three days before Donald Trump takes office with pledges of mass deportations.

The unanimous decision by a panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans — two judges appointed by Republican presidents, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, and one by Democrat Barack 0bama — is the latest blow for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, whose beneficiaries have lived in legal limbo for more than a decade.

It signals no immediate change for its more than 500,000 beneficiaries, who can renew temporary permits to live and work in the United States. But the federal government cannot take new applications, leaving an aging and thinning pool of recipients.

The decision may tee up the policy for a third visit to the Supreme Court. Trump sought to end DACA during his first term, but he also occasionally expressed wishes that beneficiaries be allowed to stay.

Obama introduced DACA in 2012, citing inaction by Congress on legislation aimed at giving those brought to the U.S. as children a path to legal status. Legal battles followed, including two trips to the Supreme Court.

This latest case involves a new version of the rule issued by President Joe Biden in 2022. It represented little substantive change from the 2012 memo that created DACA, but it was subject to public comment as part of a formal rule-making process intended to improve its chances of surviving legal muster.

U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen in Houston said the executive branch had overstepped its authority and barred he government from approving new applications. He left it intact for current beneficiaries while appeals played out in court.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who led the challenge on behalf of Republican-led states, called Friday's ruling “a major victory.”

[jjotto]

“left it intact for current beneficiaries”

[kiryandil]

Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Texas [US District judge Andrew S. Hanen, Dubya judge]
USDC No. 1:18-CV-68
______________________________
Before Smith, Clement, and Higginson, Circuit Judges.
*
Jerry E. Smith, Circuit judge [Reagan];
Steven A. Higginson, Circuit judge [Obama];
Edith Brown Clement, Senior Circuit judge [Dubya]

https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/fifth-circuit-daca-ruling.pdf

[Starboard]

“left it intact for current beneficiaries”

***********

Since it was determined that the executive branch had overstepped its authority it would seem logical to disband it as it was not a legitimate executive action.

[b4me]

No beneficiaries if it wasnt legal.

[Robert357]

Let's use Peabody's “way back machine” for a moment.

“....Lawmakers had been trying to get the DREAM Act (the acronym standing for Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) passed since at least 2001.

“This is not a path to citizenship. It's not a permanent fix,” Obama said on June 15, 2012.

“This is a temporary stopgap measure that lets us focus our resources wisely while giving a degree of relief and hope to talented, driven, patriotic young people.”....”

Now another setting on the Way back machine.

“.....Sept. 5, 2017: Trump administration rescinds DACA

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a televised speech (we fact-checked it) that the Trump administration was rescinding the deferred-action program, potentially affecting 690,000 DACA beneficiaries.

As part of the phase-out, the administration planned to adjudicate, on a case-by-case basis, applications filed by Sept. 5 and reject any new requests filed after that date. Individuals who already had DACA with protection expiring by March 5, 2018, would be able to apply for renewal by Oct. 5, 2017.

“Congress, get ready to do your job - DACA!” Trump tweeted, adding that he would revisit the issue if legislators failed to pass a measure......”

Democrats have their finger prints all over the failure to legislate a solution for DACA or the Dreamers. Trump is fully capable of using the Bully Pulpit to point out that this is a failure of the Democratic Party to endorse a bipartisan legislative solution that they have known about for decades.

Let the finger pointing begin and may it be focused on Democrats who from the Beginning of DACA know it was not a permanent solution and knew it had no path to citizenship or to permanent residency.