09/04/2018 Tungol Law America Now, Immigration, Politics, Reform "Federal Judge Refuses to Shut Down DACA Program"

Pete Williams of NBC News reports that a federal judge in Texas declined on Friday August 31st to order an immediate halt to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, the Obama-era initiative that has allowed 700,000 young people, known as “Dreamers,” to avoid deportation. The decision by U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Hanen of Brownsville, Texas, was a blow to Texas and seven other states that hoped Hanen would find the program, known as DACA, as objectionable as he did another Obama program, Deferred Action for Parents of Americans.

“Today’s favorable ruling brings joy and relief to many young immigrants and their communities who have been waiting to hear whether DACA would be blocked,” said Karla Perez, a DACA recipient who had urged the court to let the program continue.

DACA allows children of illegal immigrants to remain in the United States if they were under 16 when their parents brought them to the country and if they arrived by 2007. Three years ago, Hanen had blocked DAPA, which was intended to allow parents who came to the United States to remain if they had U.S.-citizen children, ruling in an earlier lawsuit also initiated by Texas.

On Friday, Hanen devoted most of his 117-page opinion to agreeing with Texas that the Obama administration did not have authority to impose the DACA program. But he declined to issue an injunction stopping its enforcement, concluding that the challengers waited too long to seek the order.

“As the Justice Department has consistently argued, DACA is an unlawful attempt to circumvent Congress, and we are pleased the court agreed today,” said U.S. Department of Justice spokesman Devin O’Malley.

For more details on this story, please go to the following link: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/federal-judge-refuses-shut-down-daca-program-n905586.

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