TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Paul Burch on Sep 14, 2023

A federal judge in Texas yesterday rejected the Biden administration’s latest effort to save the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that has shielded nearly 600,000 undocumented young adults from deportation, reports The Hill. Judge Andrew S. Hanen of the Federal District Court in Houston did not mandate an immediate end to the program. Current applicants will be able to keep and renew their protection, but no new applications will be allowed. DACA was created by executive action during the Obama administration in 2012. A federal district court judge ruled in 2021 that Obama had exceeded his authority in creating the program. In response, the Department of Homeland Security underwent formal rulemaking in 2022 to solidify the basis for DACA. But Hanen found while the government followed the law, the new rule did not address prior issues criticized by the court.