The government chaired by Joe Biden on Friday appealed the ruling of a Texas judge who declared illegal the Program of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA, for its acronym in English), which protects hundreds of thousands of people from deportation. young people who came to the country illegally as children.
Federal Judge Andrew Hanen ruled in July that the program that benefits some 600,000 dreamers violates a law on administrative procedures.
Thus, it allowed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to maintain protection for those who were already registered, but prohibited it from adding new beneficiaries.
[Democrats lobby Congress to open a path to citizenship for eight million undocumented immigrants]
The government's appeal, first reported by CNN, comes at a time of uncertainty for dreamers, whose future is in suspense while Congress is not able to agree on a definitive solution.
More than 50,000 recent applications to the program have been left in limbo after the crash.
The Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) froze these cases pending appeal, so there would be an opportunity for these applications to be processed again, as explained by immigration attorney Alma Rosa Nieto.
My application for DACA was in process.
What will happen to my case now that the new applications have been canceled?
July 29, 202101: 04
The Institute for Immigration Policy estimates that about 1.3 million more youth may be eligible for DACA protection.
Biden began processing new applications as soon as he arrived at the White House, but delays due to the pandemic prevented them from being finalized before the judge's ruling made it unfeasible.
Former President Donald Trump had stopped receiving new applications.
He had also tried to end the program but the Supreme Court ruled that his Administration had not followed the procedures established by law to eliminate the program and annulled his measure.
DACA recipients celebrate outside the Supreme Court after the court ruled that then-President Donald Trump's move against the program was illegal, in Washington, DC, on June 18, 2020. REUTERS / Jonathan Ernst / File
Hanen's ruling was based precisely on that Supreme Court decision, arguing that
it was now the Biden Administration that violated the Administrative Procedure Act
, which requires public notification and comment on the policy.
The appeal that the Department of Justice presented this Friday will be appealed in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, a court known for its conservative court decisions.
It will predictably end up in the Supreme Court.
Now Democrats are pushing Congress to pass a $ 3.5 trillion package that includes a path to citizenship for about 8 million undocumented people, including DACA recipients.