Revised DACA Program Goes to TX Judge  06/01 06:09

   

   HOUSTON (AP) -- A revised version of a federal policy that prevents the 
deportation of hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the U.S. as 
children is set to be debated Thursday before a federal judge who previously 
ruled the program illegal.

   Attorneys representing the nine states that have sued to end the Deferred 
Action for Childhood Arrivals program, lawyers for the U.S. Justice Department 
and DACA recipients were scheduled to appear at a court hearing before U.S. 
District Judge Andrew Hanen.

   In 2021, Hanen declared DACA illegal, ruling that the program had not been 
subjected to public notice and comment periods required under the federal 
Administrative Procedures Act. Hanen also said the states seeking to stop it 
had standing to file their lawsuit because they had been harmed by the program.

   The states claimed they incur hundreds of millions of dollars in health 
care, education and other costs when immigrants are allowed to remain in the 
country illegally. The states that sued are Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, 
Louisiana, Nebraska, South Carolina, West Virginia, Kansas and Mississippi.

   The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans upheld Hanen's ruling 
in 2022 but sent the case back to him to review changes made to the program by 
the Biden administration.

   The new version of DACA took effect in October and was subject to public 
comments as part of a formal rule-making process.

   In court filings, Texas and the other states argued that the updated program 
is essentially the same as the 2012 memo that first created it and remains 
"unlawful and unconstitutional." The states also argued that the White House 
overstepped its authority by granting immigration benefits that are for 
Congress to decide.

   The U.S. Justice Department argued in court filings that the states failed 
to show any direct injury because of DACA and that Congress has given the 
Department of Homeland Security the "authority and duty to set immigration 
enforcement policies."

   "DACA is lawful. DACA is consistent with the many policies of the U.S. 
government in the past under different presidents," said Nina Perales, with the 
Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, who will be speaking 
before Hanen on behalf of DACA recipients.

   Hanen has left the Obama-era program intact for those already benefiting 
from it. But he ruled there can be no new applicants while appeals are pending.

   There were 580,310 people enrolled in DACA at the end of December, according 
to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

   Hanen is not expected to immediately rule after Thursday's court hearing. 
But whatever decision he makes is expected to end up before the U.S. Supreme 
Court for a third time.

   In 2016, the Supreme Court deadlocked 4-4 over an expanded DACA and a 
version of the program for parents of DACA recipients. In 2020, the high court 
ruled 5-4 that the Trump administration improperly ended DACA, allowing it to 
stay in place.

   President Joe Biden and advocacy groups have called on Congress to pass 
permanent protections for " Dreamers," which is what people protected by DACA 
are commonly called. Congress has failed multiple times to pass proposals 
called the DREAM Act to protect DACA recipients.