In anticipation of an upcoming appeals court ruling that will likely strike down the popular and successful Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, the Biden administration is reportedly preparing directives to protect the hundreds of thousands of young people who have been able to work legally and live freer from the threat of deportation under the program.
Under the reported actions, the Biden administration would instruct federal immigration officials “to deprioritize deporting DACA recipients and refrain from deporting them if they aren’t deemed threats to public safety or national security,” NBC News reported Thursday.
RELATED STORY: DACA recipients continue pushing for legislation as program goes before conservative appeals court
The pending court decision stems from a Republican-led lawsuit currently at the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. It’s arrived at this court by design, the Fifth Circuit being a mega-conservative panel of jurists that have gladly blocked pro-immigrant policy before. DACA is now at this court after Ken Paxton, the corrupt Texas attorney general who fled a process server just a couple days ago, secured a ruling from a window-shopped GOP judge in the state. The Biden administration then appealed that decision.
When Republicans can, and do, sue over any beneficial policy implemented by the Biden administration, this reported executive action intended to shield immigrants from a partisan attack will likely be vulnerable to a partisan attack itself. It doesn’t matter if the Biden administration is within its legal authority to instruct Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) what it should focus on. If a hack judge says something is so, that’s all Republicans need.
Should the Biden administration still issue the order? Sure. In recent weeks, the Biden administration has also released a finalized rule intended to fortify the policy as it faces legal threats. But it’s also a stain on the nation that DACA recipients are forced to continue living in this cruel limbo. What they need is permanent relief.
NBC News reports that while Sen. Dick Durbin (a key leader on proposals addressing DACA recipients) had been in contact with the administration, “[h]e didn’t say what Congress was prepared to do if DACA is terminated.” Durbin told NBC News that “if something terrible comes out of the 5th Circuit, I think it could be an issue in November.”
Oh, but it’s already an issue. Katia Escobar, a young undocumented immigrant currently studying at the University of Houston, is among the applicants blocked from admission into DACA due to Paxton’s lawsuit. She said that when she got a notice at home, “it felt like I was back to my starting point.”
“All of my efforts to help support my family, start a new chapter in my life and get new opportunities, it all crumbled away in an instant,” she told The Texas Tribune earlier this month. Prospective applicants had been in court in New York to try to revive the tens of thousands of applications that were pending when Texas’ decision went down, but they lost. Currently, only former and current beneficiaries are eligible for the program. No new applications are allowed.
The House of Representatives passed a pathway to legalization for DACA recipients more than a year ago. But legislative efforts have died in the Senate. While the Supreme Court, in a surprising 5-4 decision back in 2020, said the previous administration unlawfully ended the program, it made clear it could have tried again in a legally sound manner. The court is also much different ideologically now than in 2020, meaning that if DACA were again to go in front of the justices, it could be a much different outcome. We need legislation.
RELATED STORIES:
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Under the reported actions, the Biden administration would instruct federal immigration officials “to deprioritize deporting DACA recipients and refrain from deporting them if they aren’t deemed threats to public safety or national security,” NBC News reported Thursday.
RELATED STORY: DACA recipients continue pushing for legislation as program goes before conservative appeals court
The pending court decision stems from a Republican-led lawsuit currently at the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. It’s arrived at this court by design, the Fifth Circuit being a mega-conservative panel of jurists that have gladly blocked pro-immigrant policy before. DACA is now at this court after Ken Paxton, the corrupt Texas attorney general who fled a process server just a couple days ago, secured a ruling from a window-shopped GOP judge in the state. The Biden administration then appealed that decision.
When Republicans can, and do, sue over any beneficial policy implemented by the Biden administration, this reported executive action intended to shield immigrants from a partisan attack will likely be vulnerable to a partisan attack itself. It doesn’t matter if the Biden administration is within its legal authority to instruct Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) what it should focus on. If a hack judge says something is so, that’s all Republicans need.
Should the Biden administration still issue the order? Sure. In recent weeks, the Biden administration has also released a finalized rule intended to fortify the policy as it faces legal threats. But it’s also a stain on the nation that DACA recipients are forced to continue living in this cruel limbo. What they need is permanent relief.
NBC News reports that while Sen. Dick Durbin (a key leader on proposals addressing DACA recipients) had been in contact with the administration, “[h]e didn’t say what Congress was prepared to do if DACA is terminated.” Durbin told NBC News that “if something terrible comes out of the 5th Circuit, I think it could be an issue in November.”
Oh, but it’s already an issue. Katia Escobar, a young undocumented immigrant currently studying at the University of Houston, is among the applicants blocked from admission into DACA due to Paxton’s lawsuit. She said that when she got a notice at home, “it felt like I was back to my starting point.”
“All of my efforts to help support my family, start a new chapter in my life and get new opportunities, it all crumbled away in an instant,” she told The Texas Tribune earlier this month. Prospective applicants had been in court in New York to try to revive the tens of thousands of applications that were pending when Texas’ decision went down, but they lost. Currently, only former and current beneficiaries are eligible for the program. No new applications are allowed.
The House of Representatives passed a pathway to legalization for DACA recipients more than a year ago. But legislative efforts have died in the Senate. While the Supreme Court, in a surprising 5-4 decision back in 2020, said the previous administration unlawfully ended the program, it made clear it could have tried again in a legally sound manner. The court is also much different ideologically now than in 2020, meaning that if DACA were again to go in front of the justices, it could be a much different outcome. We need legislation.
RELATED STORIES:
As program continues to face GOP-led court challenges, DHS releases finalized rule to fortify DACA
Federal court denies relief to tens of thousands of first-time DACA hopefuls
Polling gives hopeful sign as Arizonans set to vote on in-state tuition for undocumented students