DACA at risk again: new arguments in Appeals Court
The program that protects Dreamers faces a new legal challenge in appeals court, following a lawsuit by Republican governments.
This October 10, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans will hear oral arguments on the lawsuit to end the program for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).
The Texas Republican government filed the original lawsuit against the administrative process to grant DACA to dreamers, a similar challenge that has occurred on several occasions.
The case is back to an appeals court and is supported by other Republican governments: Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Carolina, West Virginia, Kansas and Mississippi.
“We all need to be clear about who and what is at stake in the DACA case. It goes beyond immigration policy and law and goes right to the question of what kind of country we aspire to. Hundreds of thousands of Dreamers have relied on DACA to literally become the embodiment of the American dream,” considered Vanessa Cardenas, executive director of America’s Voice. “The GOP’s relentless effort to end the popular and successful DACA program while blocking legislation that would offer Dreamers a way to become full U.S. citizens speaks volumes about the Republican Party of 2024.”
Fwd.us, a civic organization that works with Dreamers, notes that the average DACA recipient arrived in the U.S. at age 6.
“DACA has allowed people to build careers and lives,” it notes.
The organization adds that the end of this program, as well as others that protect immigrants, could affect some 22 million people, indicating that one in every 15 residents in the country lives in a mixed-status family, that is, with an undocumented member.
The same appeals court was also scheduled to take up Keeping Families Together on Oct. 10, but changed its schedule Friday night.
“The Fifth Circuit was scheduled to hold a separate hearing on the same day against the Keeping Families Together process. That hearing was abruptly cancelled after the Fifth Circuit affirmed a District Court decision denying directly affected persons the opportunity to intervene in the case,” the organization warned.
In making that decision the Fifth Circuit also lifted the stay blocking the process, meaning immigrants under the Keeping Families Together program could apply and see their cases move forward again.
However, the Texas District Court judge reinstated the stay hours later to again block that policy implemented by President Joe Biden’s administration.
“This is an effort to block a program through an administrative stay for more than 70 days and until the election,” lamented Fwd.us.
Activists accuse Republicans and former President Donald Trump, during his first term, of challenging immigration protections.
“It is no coincidence that these efforts against DACA and the Keeping Families Together process ended up in the Fifth Circuit; the plaintiffs in both cases, including some of former President Trump’s closest immigration advisers, specifically sought out these courts,” it charged.