Immigrant Rights Advocates Tell Congress to ‘Step Up’ After Court Declares DACA Illegal

After a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that a program shielding roughly 600,000 young undocumented immigrants from deportation is illegal, progressive advocates implored Congress to do what it has refused to do for years: pass legislation guaranteeing permanent protections for people brought to the United States as children.

The decision from a three-judge panel on the right-wing U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit allows those already enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to renew their status but finds the 2012 memo establishing it to be unlawful, affirming a 2021 lower court ruling that threw the program’s future into jeopardy. The Biden administration, for its part, has been fighting to register new beneficiaries locked out since last year’s injunction.

As The New York Times reported:

The judges sent the case back to Federal District Court in Houston to consider a new administration policy issued in August to protect the program. The new regulation was intended to go into effect at the end of the month.

Wednesday’s ruling was the latest turn in a series of court rulings and administration actions that over the years has canceled, reinstated, or rolled back pieces of the DACA program. It has long seemed likely that the case would ultimately go to the Supreme Court.

“This decision makes 100% clear that the options for preserving DACA in the courts are dwindling and essentially nonexistent at this point,” Jess Hanson, a staff lawyer at the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), told the newspaper. “We really need Congress to step up.”

NILC executive director Marielena Hincapié said in a statement that “while the Fifth Circuit’s troubling decision does not change who can currently apply for or renew DACA, immigrant youth cannot be expected to continue to live with the constant uncertainty wrought by politicized attacks on the policy.”

“DACA is a successful and commonsense policy that has transformed lives, improved our economy, and strengthened our nation,” said Hincapié. “It is legally and morally right, but it was always meant to be temporary.”

Former President Barack Obama created DACA via executive order in 2012 amid a long-standing failure by federal lawmakers to provide safeguards to undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. It acted as a stopgap measure to protect those commonly referred to as “Dreamers” from deportation. The protection lasts two years at a time and a renewal is possible, but it doesn’t include a path to citizenship.

“DACA recipients,” said Mario Carrillo, campaigns director at America’s Voice, “can’t continue living court ruling to court ruling.”

Hincapié emphasized that Wednesday’s decision “makes clear that the writing is on the legal wall, and we cannot sit by awaiting another adverse ruling by the lower court, the Fifth Circuit, or ultimately the Supreme Court.”

“This underscores the urgency for Congress to deliver a permanent legislative solution for immigrant youth, who need the permanency and stability of a pathway to citizenship,” she added. “This is a solution that the public widely supports, and Congress must follow through. We urge President [Joe] Biden to wield his political and legislative prowess to achieve this much-needed legislative victory swiftly.”

Characterizing DACA as “hanging by a judicial thread,” Voto Latino also urged Congress to “pass the DREAM Act now.”

FWD.us president Todd Schulte warned that “without legislation protecting DACA recipients passing in 2022, we will almost certainly see nearly 700,000 DACA recipients lose work authorization, lose protection from deportation, and have their lives thrown into chaos in the very near future.”

Originally published at Commondreams.org.