Future of DACA Program in Peril

Introduced by the Obama Administration on June 15, 2022, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program provides essential legal protections to undocumented individuals who entered the United States as children prior to June 15, 2007. Today, 600,000 "dreamers" are protected from deportation and eligible for work authorization under the DACA program.

The DACA program has faced consistent criticism and legal challenges since its introduction in 2012. Most notably, in 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court found that the Trump Administration had violated the Administrative Procedure Act in its attempt to abruptly terminate the DACA program. Following this decision, conservative legislators have shifted their attention to the program's inception, arguing that the Obama Administration should have used a formal legislative process rather than a secretarial memorandum to introduce the program.

Later this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit will make its ruling on a lawsuit filed by nine Republican-led states, including Texas, Alabama, and Louisiana, against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and multiple other government agencies, determining the lawfulness of the program. The conservative-leaning Fifth Circuit will likely rule against DACA, so the Biden Administration is reportedly preparing to appeal the ruling. However, the conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court is also likely to rule against DACA, so the Biden Administration will need to weigh different executive actions to protect dreamers from deportation.