The Salt Lake Tribune E-edition

Revised ‘Dreamers’ program to get another review by court

New version of Biden’s revisions has gone through required review process.

By KEVIN MCGILL

New Orleans • A federal appeals court Wednesday ordered a lower court review of Biden administration revisions to a program preventing the deportation of hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought into the United States as children.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said a federal district judge in Texas should take another look at the program following the revisions adopted in August. The ruling leaves the future of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals up in the air, with current DACA recipients protected — for now — but new applicants barred.

President Joe Biden said in a statement that he was “disappointed” in the ruling, noting, “The court’s stay provides a temporary reprieve for DACA recipients but one thing remains clear: the lives of Dreamers remain in limbo.” People protected by DACA are commonly referred to as “Dreamers,” based on never-passed proposals in Congress called the DREAM Act.

The advocacy group Families Belong Together said in a statement, “It is beyond time for Congress and Biden to act on their promises.”

DACA was adopted by former President Barack Obama’s administration and has had a complicated ride through federal court challenges.

Texas-based U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen last year declared DACA illegal. He found that the program had not been subjected to public notice and comment periods required under the federal Administrative Procedures Act. But he left the program temporarily intact for those already benefiting from it, pending the appeal.

“Current DACA recipients can renew their status and apply for advance parole, but the ruling continues to block new applicants from being granted DACA,” the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, an advocacy organization, said in a statement. The organization was among advocates renewing calls Wednesday for the Biden administration and Congress to protect DACA recipients.

Wednesday’s ruling by three judges of the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit upholds the judge’s initial finding. But it sends the case back to him for a look at a new version of the rule issued by the Biden administration in late August. The new rule takes effect Oct. 31.

The new rule’s 453 pages are largely technical and represent little substantive change from the 2012 memo that created DACA, but it was subject to public comments as part of a formal rule-making process intended to improve its chances of surviving legal muster.

In July arguments at the 5th Circuit, the U.S. Justice Department defended the program, allied with the state of New Jersey, immigrant advocacy organizations and a coalition of dozens of powerful corporations. They argued that DACA recipients have grown up to become productive drivers of the U.S. economy, holding and creating jobs and spending money.

Texas, joined by eight other Republican-leaning states argued that they are harmed financially, incurring hundreds of millions of dollars in health care, education and other costs, when immigrants are allowed to remain in the country illegally. They also argued that the White House overstepped its authority by granting immigration benefits that are for Congress to decide.

DACA is widely expected to go to the Supreme Court for a third time.

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2022-10-07T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-10-07T07:00:00.0000000Z

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The Salt Lake Tribune