Federal judge again declares that DACA is illegal with issue likely to be decided by Supreme Court


 People rally outside the Supreme Court over President Trump’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA), at the Supreme Court in Washington, Nov. 12, 2019. A federal judge on Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, declared illegal a revised version of a federal policy that prevents the deportation of hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

 Susana Lujano, left, a dreamer from Mexico who lives in Houston, joins other activists to rally in support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as DACA, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, June 15, 2022. A federal judge on Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, declared illegal a revised version of a federal policy that prevents the deportation of hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) students gather in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, June 18, 2020. A federal judge on Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, declared illegal a revised version of a federal policy that prevents the deportation of hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. 

AP Photos/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File

BY JUAN A. LOZANO
 September 13, 2023

HOUSTON (AP) — While a federal judge on Wednesday declared illegal a revised version of a federal policy that prevents the deportation of hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, he declined to order an immediate end to the program and the protections it offers to recipients.

U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen agreed with Texas and eight other states suing to stop the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program. The judge’s ruling was ultimately expected to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, sending the program’s fate before the high court for a third time.

“While sympathetic to the predicament of DACA recipients and their families, this Court has expressed its concerns about the legality of the program for some time,” Hanen wrote in his 40-page ruling. “The solution for these deficiencies lies with the legislature, not the executive or judicial branches. Congress, for any number of reasons, has decided not to pass DACA-like legislation ... The Executive Branch cannot usurp the power bestowed on Congress by the Constitution — even to fill a void.”

Hanen’s order extended the current injunction that had been in place against DACA, which barred the government from approving any new applications, but left the program intact for existing recipients during the ongoing legal review.

Hanen also declined a request by the states to order the program’s end within two years. Hanen said his order does not require the federal government to take any actions against DACA recipients, who are known as “Dreamers.”

Thomas Saenz, president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, or MALDEF, which is representing DACA recipients in the lawsuit, said it will ultimately be up to higher courts, including the Supreme Court, to rule on DACA’s legality and whether Texas proved it had been harmed by the program.

“Judge Hanen has consistently erred in resolving both of these issues, and today’s ruling is more of the same flawed analysis. We look forward to continuing to defend the lawful and much-needed DACA program on review in higher courts,” Saenz said.

The Biden administration criticized the judge’s ruling.

“We are deeply disappointed in today’s DACA ruling from the District Court in Southern Texas,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement Wednesday night. “... As we have long maintained, we disagree with the District Court’s conclusion that DACA is unlawful, and will continue to defend this critical policy from legal challenges. While we do so, consistent with the court’s order, DHS will continue to process renewals for current DACA recipients and DHS (the Department of Homeland Security) may continue to accept DACA applications.”

The Texas Attorney General’s Office, which represented the states in the lawsuit, and the U.S. Department of Justice, which represented the federal government, didn’t immediately return emails or calls seeking comment.

The states have argued the Obama administration didn’t have the authority to first create the program in 2012 because it circumvented Congress.

In 2021, Hanen had declared the program illegal, ruling it had not been subject to public notice and comment periods required under the federal Administrative Procedures Act.

The Biden administration tried to satisfy Hanen’s concerns with a new version of DACA that took effect in October 2022 and was subject to public comments as part of a formal rule-making process.

But Hanen, who was appointed by then-President George W. Bush in 2002, ruled the updated version of DACA was still illegal as the Biden administration’s new version was essentially the same as the old version, started under the Obama administration. Hanen had previously said DACA was unconstitutional.

Hanen also had previously ruled the states had standing to file their lawsuit because they had been harmed by the program.

The states have 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.

Those defending the program — the federal government, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the state of New Jersey — had argued the states failed to present evidence that any of the costs they allege they have incurred have been tied to DACA recipients. They also argued Congress has given the Department of Homeland Security the legal authority to set immigration enforcement policies.

There were 578,680 people enrolled in DACA at the end of March, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The program has faced a roller coaster of court challenges over the years.

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.

In 2022, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans upheld Hanen’s earlier ruling declaring DACA illegal, but sent the case back to him to review changes made to the program by the Biden administration.

President Joe Biden and advocacy groups have called on Congress to pass permanent protections for “ dreamers.” Congress has failed multiple times to pass proposals called the DREAM Act to protect DACA recipients.

“We continue to urge Congress and President Biden to create permanent solutions for all immigrants to ensure none are left in the perilous road DACA has been on for the past decade,” Veronica Garcia, an attorney with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, an advocacy organization, said in a statement.
___

Follow Juan A. Lozano on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70

DACA
No longer young, ‘dreamers’ uneasily watch a legal challenge

By AMANCAI BIRABEN and ADRIAN SAINZ

September 3, 2022

1 of 7

Juliana Macedo do Nascimento, 36, a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program recipient who moved to the U.S. from Brazil when she was 14, poses for a portrait, Friday, Sept. 2, 2022, outside her apartment in Washington. Immigrants who signed up for an Obama-era program shielding them from deportation, long a symbol of youth, are increasingly easing into middle age. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)


LOS ANGELES (AP) — When Juliana Macedo do Nascimento signed up for an Obama-era program to shield immigrants who came to the country as young children from deportation, she enrolled at California State University, Los Angeles, transitioning from jobs in housekeeping, child care, auto repair and a construction company.

Now, a decade later at age 36, graduate studies at Princeton University are behind her and she works in Washington as deputy director of advocacy for United We Dream, a national group.

“Dreamers” like Macedo do Nascimento, long a symbol of immigrant youth, are increasingly easing into middle age as eligibility requirements have been frozen since 2012, when the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program was introduced.

The oldest recipients were in their early 30s when DACA began and are in their early 40s today. At the same time, fewer people turning 16 can meet a requirement to have been in the United States continuously since June 2007.

The average age of a DACA recipient was 28.2 years in March, up from 23.8 in September 2017, according to the Migration Policy Institute. About 40% are 30 or older, according to fwd.us, a group that supports DACA.

As fewer are eligible and new enrollments have been closed since July 2021 under court order, the number of DACA recipients fell to just above 600,000 at the end of March, according to government figures.

Beneficiaries have become homeowners and married. Many have U.S. citizen children.

“DACA is not for young people,” Macedo do Nascimento said. “They’re not even eligible for it anymore. We are well into middle age.”

Born out of President Barack Obama’s frustration with Congress’ failure to reach an agreement on immigration reform, DACA was meant to be a temporary solution and many saw it as imperfect from the start. Immigration advocates were disappointed the policy didn’t include a pathway to citizenship and warned the program’s need to be renewed every two years would leave many feeling in limbo. Opponents, including many Republicans, saw the policy a legal overreach on Obama’s part and criticized it as rewarding people who hadn’t followed immigration law.

In a move intended to insulate DACA from legal challenge, the Biden administration released a 453-page rule on Aug. 24 that sticks closely to DACA as it was introduced in 2012. It codified DACA as a regulation by subjecting it to potential changes after extensive public comment.

DACA advocates welcomed the regulation but were disappointed that age eligibility was unchanged.

The rule was “a missed opportunity,” said Karen Tumlin, an attorney and director of Justice Action Center. DACA, she said, was “locked in time, like a fossil preserved in amber.”

The administration weighed expanding age eligibility but decided against it, said Ur Jaddou, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which administers the program.

“The president told us, ‘How do we preserve and fortify DACA? How do we ensure the security of the program and how best to do that?’ and this was the determination that was made after a lot of thought and careful consideration,” Jaddou said Monday in Los Angeles.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is considering a challenge to DACA from Texas and eight other states, asked both sides to explain how the new rule affects the program’s legal standing.

Texas, in a court filing Thursday, said the rule can’t save DACA. The states conceded that it’s similar to the 2012 memo that created the program but that they “share many of the same defects.”

The executive branch has “neither the authority to decide the major questions that DACA addresses, nor the power to confer substantive immigration benefits,” the states wrote.

The Justice Department argued the new rule — “substantively identical” to the original program — renders moot the argument that the administration failed to follow federal rule-making procedures.

DACA has been closed to new enrollees since July 2021 while the case winds its way through the New Orleans-bsed appeals court but two-year renewals are allowed.

Uncertainty surrounding DACA has caused anxiety and frustration among aging recipients.

Pamela Chomba, 32, arrived with her family from Peru at age 11 and settled in New Jersey. She worries about losing her job and missing mortgage payments if DACA is ruled illegal. She put off becoming a mother because she doesn’t know if she can stay in the U.S. and doesn’t want to be a “burden” on her children.

“We’re people with lives and plans, and we really just want to make sure that we can feel safe,” said Chomba, director of state immigration campaigns for fwd.us.

Macedo do Nascimento was 14 when she arrived with her family from Brazil in 2001. She has not seen a brother who returned to Brazil just before DACA was announced in 10 years. International travel under DACA is highly restricted.

Like Biden and many DACA advocates, she believes legislation is the answer.

“Congress is the ultimate solution here,” she said. “(Both parties) keep passing the ball between each other.

The uncertainty has affected her, the eldest of three siblings.

“The fear of being deported has come back,” Macedo do Nascimento said, because “you never know when this policy is going to end.”

___

Sainz reported from Memphis, Tennessee.

After 10 years of DACA, Dreamers still live in legal limbo

Mike Bebernes
·Senior Editor
Tue, September 13, 2022 
“The 360” shows you diverse perspectives on the day’s top stories and debates.

The Biden administration late last month issued a new rule designed to fortify DACA, the 10-year-old policy started under former President Barack Obama that has shielded from deportation hundreds of thousands of immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children.

Created in 2012, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy granted some undocumented people who entered the U.S. as minors — often called Dreamers — the right to live and work in the country as long as they met certain criteria and weren’t convicted of serious crimes.

“These are young people who study in our schools, they play in our neighborhoods, they’re friends with our kids, they pledge allegiance to our flag,” Obama said when he established the program. “They are Americans in their heart, in their minds, in every single way but one: on paper.

In the decade since its inception, more than 800,000 Dreamers have taken advantage of the program, and many of them have since become adults who have started businesses, gotten married and had children of their own. Since the executive branch doesn’t have the authority to grant Dreamers permanent legal status or citizenship, DACA was intended to be a temporary stopgap until Congress passed a more comprehensive solution. Bills to do just that, most notably the DREAM Act, have been proposed repeatedly, but each time have failed to advance.

Lack of action from Congress has left the fate of Dreamers in the hands of the executive branch and the courts. Former President Donald Trump tried to repeal DACA early in his presidency, but was blocked by the Supreme Court. An ongoing legal challenge, however, could end the program for good. Last year, a federal judge in Texas ruled that DACA was unconstitutional. The Biden administration has appealed the decision, meaning current DACA recipients are unaffected as of now, but no new applications can be accepted. The case is currently being weighed by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and, depending on the outcome, could ultimately make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Why there’s debate

A strong majority of Americans, including most Republicans, support a permanent status for Dreamers. But the fate of the program is still very much up in the air and there’s significant debate over the best way to end the legal limbo that Dreamers have lived in for the past decade.

There’s some hope among some immigration rights advocates that the looming legal threat to DACA might provide motivation for Congress to finally pass something like the DREAM Act. Accomplishing that, some argue, might require some concessions from Democrats to secure enough Republican votes to overcome a likely filibuster. It may also mean proposing the DACA protections on their own, rather than as part of a larger package of immigration reforms that prompt more heated partisan opposition.

But skeptics say it’s still unlikely that anything substantive gets done. They argue that Republicans aren’t going to want to hand Democrats another legislative victory, especially with control of Congress up for grabs in the November midterm elections. Some advocates on the left say nothing will happen unless Democrats make a much more aggressive push to codify DACA into law during the shrinking window in which they control both the House and Senate.

Many of those same advocates have criticized Biden for not using his power as president to expand DACA so more immigrants are eligible. Some conservatives, though, argue that DACA has always been a severe violation of executive power and the courts would be correct to return full decision-making power over immigration policy back to Congress.
What’s next

The Fifth Circuit’s DACA ruling is expected to be released in the coming weeks. If that decision is appealed, it could be heard by the Supreme Court as early as this fall, with a potential final ruling sometime next year.
Perspectives

There’s at least some hope that Congress might pass a permanent solution

“If there’s any glimmer of hope for DREAMers, it might be in the Senate’s compromise on another highly divisive topic: gun control. … A series of major mass shootings finally galvanized enough bipartisan support to pass a gun safety package earlier this year that didn’t go as far as Democrats wanted, but still introduced tailored reforms. With the right motivation, immigration advocates hope a similar sort of negotiation might be possible on immigration, as well.” — Nicole Narea, Vox

DACA’s existence may actually be making true reform less possible

“The difference is night and day from being undocumented to then having protection from deportation, work authorization and essentially being able to start one's life. … But as an unintended consequence, DACA may have actually taken some of the steam out of a legislative fix that would have provided permanent legal status for undocumented young people.” — Tom Wong, immigration policy researcher, to NPR

The GOP should hold out on DACA until they have more leverage to enact their own immigration reforms

“Ultimately, this is a battle that must be fought in Congress and likely will not advance for Republicans until a president of their party is in the White House. After a year and a half of the Biden administration’s open borders … the American public is likely more receptive than ever to stricter immigration policies. If Republicans in Congress are paying any attention to where their voters are positioned on immigration, they should think twice before caving on amnesty for illegal aliens.” — Jack Wolfsohn, National Review

Republicans’ hard-line anti-immigrant views don’t allow room for nuance

“It’s all a matter of mindset, of course. Republicans could just as easily look at Dreamers as a ready workforce during a labor shortage that’s aggravating inflation, or perhaps even (God forbid!) as human beings. … They can’t seem to separate Dreamers, raised in the same country as them, from new border arrivals.” — Jean Guerrero, Los Angeles Times

An end to DACA would be an important step toward reining in presidential overreach

“Obama’s illegal DACA program caused an incalculable loss of faith in the rule of law. … Until presidents like Biden, Trump, and Obama are forced to drive within the lines, the presidency itself will continue to be the biggest threat to democracy in America.” — Editorial, Washington Examiner

Lawmakers on both sides must abandon political gamesmanship and pass a simple DACA solution

“The argument in Congress has long been about wider policy differences on immigration and border security. Hundreds of thousands of DACA recipients are human pawns on this political chess board. … Congress could pass a clean law to formally legalize the DACA program, and the president could sign it. Everything else is politics.” — Editorial, Orange County Register

Both political parties are too mired in dysfunction to solve the problem

“There’s a core of Republican voters that won’t support giving legal status to any undocumented immigrants, and members … of Congress either agree with them or are wary of crossing them. Meanwhile, Democrats still have trouble getting on the same page, even with control of the White House and slim majorities in both houses of Congress.” — Editorial, San Diego Union-Tribune

The moral argument for protecting Dreamers can only go so far

“A stunted ethical vision is a major issue at hand, but so is irrationality when one considers the financial contributions that DACA recipients make each year (for example, $9.4 billion in taxes alone) along with other markers showing the benefits that DACA has bestowed on recipients and on society at large — and the ultimate value of granting a pathway to citizenship.” — Andrew Moss, Daily Hampshire Gazette

Biden could do much more to protect Dreamers even without Congress

“Because the Biden administration chiefly focused on its battle with the courts, the new rule fails to adopt any substantive measures to expand or strengthen the DACA program. Most conspicuously, the government declined to extend the date that a young immigrant must have arrived in the United States to apply for DACA. … Effectively set an expiration date for DACA regardless of what the courts decide.” — Jacob Hamburger and Stephen Yale-Loehr, Slate

Even overwhelming public opinion won’t be enough to sway Congress

“The failure of Congress to pass federal legislation that would legalize the immigration status of hundreds of thousands of Dreamers is another reminder that polling data and statistics take a back seat when it comes to immigration policy. Politicians and elected officials would much rather pander to the most extreme and fringe elements of their political base.” — Marcela García, Boston Globe

Failure to protect Dreamers means comprehensive immigration reform is all but unimaginable

“The problem of migrants who lack long-term documentation is broader than dreamers. An estimated 6.7 million migrants have lived here for more than a decade; of that cohort, more than half have been here for 20 years or longer. Yet within that population, dreamers are unique. Having been brought to the country as babies, toddlers and teens, they were handed a raw deal. It’s a disgrace that we can’t resolve it.” — Editorial, Washington Post

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Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Congress needs to do its job and protect Dreamers

BY DIANA PLIEGO, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR - 10/31/22 
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY CONTRIBUTORS ARE THEIR OWN AND NOT THE VIEW OF THE HILL

Getty Images

As a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, recipient, I felt immense relief in June 2020 when the Supreme Court ruled that DACA could stay in place. Several months before, as lawyers argued the case, thousands of immigrant youth leaders and allies rallied in front of the Court, chanting “home is here!” Uncertain about our futures, and with our livelihoods on the line, we came together to show the world that our community is united, powerful, and undeterred, even when the odds are stacked against us. 

I wish I could say that uncertainty has faded since we won at the Supreme Court. I wish I could say Congress realized that the stakes were too high to leave our fate to the whims of another court decision or more empty promises. But now — a decade after DACA was created as a temporary fix — it is urgent for Members of Congress to do their jobs and pass a permanent solution to provide the stability we need to chart our futures in the U.S., the only home many of us have ever known. 

I work for the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), the same organization that was involved in drafting the original Dream Act more than 20 years ago. Year after year, and in court case after court case, my colleagues and I advocate for the future of thousands of DACA recipients and millions more who, like me, live in constant uncertainty. 

I was born in Mexico and came to the U.S. with my mom and brothers to reunite with my dad when I was three years old. Eventually we settled in South Carolina, where I ultimately went to college. Before DACA, I lived in fear of being deported to a country I didn’t know. At 17, my life changed when President Obama announced DACA. With DACA, I could continue my education, build a career, and help support my family.

Most importantly, getting DACA reaffirmed what I knew: My home is here. 

The U.S. is home to hundreds of thousands of immigrant youth who grew up and have built a life here, but currently have no pathway to become U.S. citizens. Every two years, we submit our renewal applications and hope the policy will last long enough to renew again.

We are not the only ones who stand to lose if DACA goes away. Around 300,000 children born in the U.S. have at least one DACA recipient parent; 76 percent of us DACA recipients have an immediate family member who is a U.S. citizen. Beyond our loved ones, our communities count on 343,000 essential workers with DACA, and the government collects $6.2 billion from us in federal taxes. 

Yet, despite our contributions, despite the lives we’ve built for ourselves and our loved ones, politically motivated court cases put our future in this country in question. Pundits play political games with our lives and livelihoods. Politicians save face with promises they have yet to keep. And Congress kicks the can down the road on passing the solution we’ve been demanding since before DACA’s inception. Once again, the fate of thousands hangs in the balance. 

In early October, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision that deemed DACA unlawful. The ruling allows DACA renewals to continue temporarily and sent the case back to the lower court to consider the Biden administration’s recent DACA regulation, which is set to go into effect on Oct. 31 — for now.

We call on Congress to think for a moment about what it must feel like to walk in our shoes. Imagine the fear of having your future in the hands of strangers, politicians, judges and politically motivated lawsuits. Imagine the fear of one day losing your home, your country, your community. Imagine living your life in two-year increments. 

Our lives remain in limbo because of Congress’s inaction and indifference. Why must we fight so hard for lawmakers to see our humanity? 

Their constituents see it: A Pew Research Center survey shows that 74 percent of Americans support a law that provides permanent legal status to immigrants who came to the U.S. as children. 

We need a permanent legislative solution for immigrant youth. We need a pathway to citizenship. Even from the very beginning, over 10 years ago, DACA was always a temporary measure. For true stability and security, Congress must act. Congress must do its job and pass permanent protections that put us on a pathway to citizenship because our home is here, and we are here to stay.

Diana Pliego is a policy associate at the National Immigration Law Center, where she works on a range of issues, including protection for DACA recipients and fighting immigration enforcement. She conducts policy research, analyzes and tracks legislation, and develops materials for movement and field partners as well as for congressional advocacy. She is a DACA recipient.

DACA recipients will now be eligible for federal health care coverage under new Biden rule

Over 100,000 young immigrants without health insurance will now be able to buy affordable health care through the plan, the administration estimates.

Demonstrators in Los Angeles rally in support of DACA recipients on the day the Supreme Court heard arguments in the DACA case in 2019.Mario Tama / Getty Images file

May 3, 2024, 
By Nicole Acevedo


More than 100,000 young immigrants protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program will soon become eligible to receive federal health care coverage for the first time since DACA was implemented over a decade ago.

The Biden administration will announce a new federal rule Friday allowing DACA recipients to enroll in a qualified health plan through the Affordable Care Act insurance marketplace or become eligible for coverage through a basic health program.

An estimated 580,000 young adults who lack legal immigration status and have lived in the U.S. since they were children are currently working or studying without fear of deportation under DACA. An overwhelming majority of DACA recipients were born in Mexico and other Latin American countries.

Even though the program has helped them access better-paying jobs and educational opportunities since it was first implemented in 2012, DACA beneficiaries had been barred from accessing federally funded health insurance despite contributing billions in federal taxes, pouring funds into the nation’s federal health insurance system for years.

While many DACA recipients get health insurance through their jobs, more than a quarter are estimated to currently be uninsured.

By implementing a federal rule expanding the definition of “lawful presence” to include DACA recipients, they are “no longer excluded from receiving coverage from a quality health plan and financial assistance as well,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra told reporters in a press call Thursday.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that over 100,000 young immigrants who lack health insurance will now have a shot at accessing affordable health care.

“DACA recipients are currently three times more likely to be uninsured than the general U.S. population, and individuals without health insurance are less likely to receive preventative or routine health screenings. They delay necessary medical care, and they incur higher costs and debts when they do finally see care,” Becerra said, adding the new expansion “will improve their health and will strengthen the health and well-being of our nation.”

The new federal rule does not make DACA recipients eligible for the Medicaid program, according to senior administration officials, but gives them coverage through the Affordable Care Act and its marketplaces and financial assistance programs.

The announced rule is expected to go into effect Nov. 1, which coincides with the Affordable Care Act’s open enrollment period for 2025 health insurance plans, allowing newly eligible DACA recipients to have access to federal health care as early as December, according to HHS.

Friday’s announcement comes about a year after President Joe Biden first announced his administration’s plan to expand health care coverage to DACA recipients. The administration’s original plan aimed to implement the federal rule by November 2023.

Senior administration officials declined to comment this week on why the implementation of the rule was delayed.

However, White House domestic policy adviser Neera Tanden stressed that “the president will continue to fight” for DACA recipients, adding that “only Congress can provide them permanent status and a pathway to citizenship.”

While the program has been around for a decade, it faced legal challenges during the Trump administration and from Republican-led states. DACA has been closed to new registrants since July 2021 as lawsuits challenging the program continue making their way through the courts.

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Nicole Acevedo is a reporter for NBC News Digital. She reports, writes and produces stories for NBC Latino and NBCNews.com.

Democrats Are Calling For An Investigation Into The Trump Administration Denying DACA Recipients Federally Backed Housing Loans

“The facts are clear: HUD officials implemented a secret policy change to discriminate against DACA recipients," Sen. Bob Menendez said.

Nidhi Prakash BuzzFeed News Reporter
Posted on June 9, 2020, at 9:01 a.m. ET


Mandel Ngan / Getty Images
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, June 25, 2019.

A group of Democrats in Congress are asking the federal housing agency’s inspector general to investigate why federal housing officials have told lenders to deny DACA recipients government-backed home loans, and why agency officials misled Congress and the public about the policy.

A letter making the request to the Department of Housing and Urban Development Inspector General Rae Oliver Davis was signed by 13 Senate and 32 House Democrats, headed up by Sen. Bob Menendez, Rep. Pete Aguilar, and Rep. Juan Vargas. It comes in response to a BuzzFeed News’ report last week, which revealed that Department of Housing and Urban Development officials did make a policy change to exclude DACA recipients from home loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration while denying that there had been a change to the public and to Congress.

“Specifically we are concerned that HUD imposed a new, nonpublic, and legally erroneous policy prohibiting the issuance of FHA-insured loans to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients and knowingly misrepresented to Congress the implementation and enforcement of this new policy,” they wrote in the letter.

BuzzFeed News initially reported that DACA recipients and their mortgage lenders were being told they were no longer eligible for the program, which they had been able to access for years until the Trump administration moved to rescind DACA in 2017.

On several instances after BuzzFeed News published that story, Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson and other housing officials assured members of Congress in public hearings and in private meetings that there had been no policy change.

“The facts are clear: HUD officials implemented a secret policy change to discriminate against DACA recipients. HUD failed to disclose this change publicly and misrepresented that a change in policy had occurred in Congressional hearings, letter responses, and briefings to Congressional staff,” Menendez told BuzzFeed News in a statement on Monday.

”This is wrong and unacceptable. We are requesting that HUD’s Inspector General investigate potential violations of federal law and failure to disclose this policy change to Congress," Menendez said.

Carson told members of Congress last year that after reading the initial story from BuzzFeed News, he had “asked around” his department.

“No one was aware of any changes that had been made to the policy whatsoever. I’m sure we have plenty of DACA recipients who have FHA-backed loans,” he said during testimony before a House committee in April last year, well after the emails obtained by BuzzFeed News show that officials within the agency had decided to exclude DACA recipients.

“It’s unacceptable for the Trump Administration to secretly change the rules to stop DACA recipients from achieving the dream of home ownership. It’s equally unacceptable that the HUD Secretary would lie to Congress about the Trump Administration’s discriminatory housing practices," Aguilar told BuzzFeed News in a statement.

In December 2018, Sens. Menendez, Cory Booker, and Catherine Cortez Masto wrote to HUD officials asking why federal housing officials told lenders to deny DACA recipients government-backed home loans.

Responding to that letter, HUD’s Assistant Secretary for Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations Len Wolfson wrote, “[t]he Department wants to be very clear that it has not implemented any policy changes during the current Administration, either formal or informal, with respect to FHA eligibility requirements for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients. HUD has longstanding policy regarding eligibility for non-U.S. citizens without lawful residency. Those policies have not been altered.”

In another exchange of letters, Wolfson wrote in July last year that HUD “has not implemented any policy changes during the current Administration with respect to FHA eligibility requirements for DACA recipients.”

"HUD chose to exclude lawful homebuyers from accessing FHA-backed home loans,” said Vargas in a statement to BuzzFeed News. “DREAMers earned the right to buy a home as taxpaying participants in our country’s labor force.”

In their letter to the inspector general on Tuesday, Democrats pointed to Wolfson’s responses, Carson’s testimony, and the internal documents and emails that show that a specific decision was made to interpret a requirement for legal residency for the loans to exclude DACA recipients.

“The above timeline and documents demonstrate what we believe was a change of policy without sound and unambiguous legal reasoning, without an opportunity for public input under Section 553 of the APA, and without communication to FHA-approved lenders and Congress,” they wrote.

MORE ON DACA AND HOUSING
The Trump Administration Said It Didn’t Change Policy To Deny Housing Loans To DACA Recipients. Emails Show Otherwise.

Nidhi Prakash · June 4, 2020

Nidhi Prakash is a reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in Washington, DC.

As elected Republicans continue effort to kill DACA, most Americans support continuing program


Gabe Ortiz
Daily Kos Staff
Friday October 28, 2022 · 

Oscar Barrera-Gonzalez (L) receives help from volunteer Ivan Corpeno in filing his application for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program at Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles on Aug. 15, 2012, in Los Angeles, California.

Republicans’ efforts to kill the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and deport young undocumented immigrants overwhelmingly fly in the face of public opinion. New Data for Progress polling shows that voters support continuing the popular and successful policy by a nearly 30-point margin, 58%-31%.

Support is strongest among Democrats, at 79%, followed by independents, at 58%. “Though a slight majority of Republicans oppose continuing DACA, 37 percent support keeping it in place,” Data for Progress said. Elected Republicans led by very corrupt Texas attorney general Ken Paxton have been steadily working to end the successful and popular immigration program through the courts. Currently, no new applications are being accepted.

“Though DACA is a critical program for young immigrants, it is only a temporary solution,” Data for Progress said. Its polling shows that voters also strongly support permanent relief.

RELATED STORY: Thousands of teachers could be pushed out of their jobs due to GOP litigation seeking to end DACA

“Meanwhile, the American Dream and Promise Act, passed by the House of Representatives in 2021, would provide a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers,” Data for Progress said. “By a +32-point margin, voters back a policy to provide DACA recipients the opportunity to gain U.S. citizenship.”

Support is strongest from Democrats, again at 79%. Support from independents ticks slightly up from DACA, at 59%. Support from Republicans also goes up, to 43% compared to DACA’s 37%.

“Protecting Dreamers is also politically popular. A plurality of voters (47 percent), including 57 percent of Latina/o voters, say they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who supports a path to citizenship for DACA recipients. Only 29 percent of voters say this would make them less likely to vote for that candidate, while 24 percent state it would not impact their decision.”

A second poll that was conducted by Democratic and Republican firms and released by immigration reform advocacy group FWD.us this week also shows strong support for a package that pairs permanent protections for DACA recipients with border security. “By a 50-point margin, voters support the proposed legislation (71% support / 21% oppose) with a plurality (45%) strongly supporting.” What that “border security” would look like when the number of border agents has already doubled from 2003 is unclear, and could hurt border communities affected by border militarization even more.

But following a conservative appeals court ruling that sent the DACA case back to anti-immigrant Texas judge Andrew Hanen, affected individuals said lawmakers must do their jobs and come together to figure out and pass legislative relief by year’s end.

“Right now, Congress needs to cut a bi-partisan deal and pass immigration legislation in 2022, that means averting the weekly loss of 5,000 work authorizations from DACA recipients over the next two years should the program be terminated,” DACA recipients Erika Andiola and Astrid Silva wrote at Univision. “Congressional staffers should the Fifth Circuit ruling as a wake-up call and ensure their bosses (whether they’re seeking re-election or not) do not waste any (and perhaps the only) opportunity to pass immigration legislation—including the upcoming lame duck session of Congress.”

Among the thousands of DACA beneficiaries who will lose their relief every week when Republicans end DACA through the courts and if Congress doesn’t act are 9,000 educators. Republicans are trying to force thousands of teachers out of their jobs as the nation also faces a teacher shortage.

Maria Rocha has taught students pre-K through sixth grade and worked as a nanny and housekeeper before becoming an educator. She told Bloomberg that she “saw the lack of teachers that looked like me, that were from my community, that related to the students. There’s a science behind teaching. I’m fascinated with teaching kids how to say thank you, how to blow your nose, how to start reading.”

Dreamers urge for protections in Senate hearing on immigrant youth

Young immigrants who have been shut out of DACA point to the program's success in an attempt to garner bipartisan support for "a path to U.S. citizenship."

Immigration rights activists rally in front of the Supreme Court in 2019. 

Mandel Ngan / AFP via Getty Images file


May 8, 2024, 
By Nicole Acevedo

NBC

As immigration policies take center stage in the nation’s political debate and the fate of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program remains uncertain, senators are holding a hearing Wednesday on the "urgent need to protect immigrant youth," according to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The occasion has prompted 1,636 scholars and alumni of TheDream.US, an organization helping DACA recipients and other undocumented immigrant youths known as Dreamers go to college, to sign a letter urging Congress to "provide us with the opportunity to pursue a path to U.S. citizenship naturalization."

"Such action will provide certainty to our families and communities and strengthen our nation’s economy by ensuring the future of a vital, vibrant workforce," the letter, first shared with NBC News, reads.

Other organizations such as evangelical and educational groups have also shared letters of support ahead of the hearing.

Gaby Pacheco, an education leader and president of TheDream.US, is one of five witnesses expected to speak at the hearing. She will be advocating for legislation that would give a pathway to legalization to young immigrant adults who've spent most of their lives in the U.S., something that polls have shown has broad support.

"The reality is that more than ever, without bipartisanship, we're not going to be able to get anything done," Pacheco told NBC News in a phone interview ahead of her testimony.

But achieving the much-needed bipartisanship may be more challenging now than ever before, said Pacheco, a former DACA recipient who has advocated for Dreamers her entire life.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., chairman of the Judiciary Committee, opened the hearing focusing on the contributions of Dreamers and DACA recipients. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the ranking member, responded saying that fixing DACA “is not my concern right now” because his priority is solving the “complete, utter disaster” riddling the border and U.S. immigration policies.

Graham added that legalizing Dreamers sends others the message “to keep coming” and will worsen the current immigration crisis.

The senators’ differing stances are a departure from their bipartisan efforts just a year ago when they both introduced the Dream Act of 2023, which would have allowed Dreamers to earn lawful permanent residence.

Immigration has increasingly become a flashpoint for politicians on both sides of the aisle ahead of the November presidential election, with Republicans overwhelmingly pointing to selected instances of undocumented noncitizens charged with murder and other serious crimes to push for hard-line immigration policies, while Democrats decry such efforts and deem them “cheap” political tactics.

According to the National Institute of Justice at the Justice Department, “Recent research suggests that those who immigrate (legally or illegally) are not more likely, and may even be less likely to commit crime in the US.”

“I think it’s very sad and tragic, what happens in the country when a very small, tiny population that does bad things is now put front stage to scare everyday Americans about who immigrants are,” said Pacheco, who has been in the U.S. since she was 8, after emigrating from Ecuador with her family.

Such dynamics are reflected in the pool of witnesses testifying before the Senate, which includes Tammy Nobles, the mother of slain 20-year-old Kayla Hamilton who sued the federal government in January alleging it allowed a gang-affiliated undocumented teen charged with Hamilton's killing into the country.

More than 800,000 young adults who were brought to the U.S. as children and lack legal immigration status have been able to work and study without fear of deportation since DACA was first implemented in 2012 as an executive action by then-President Barack Obama. An overwhelming majority of DACA recipients were born in Mexico and other Latin American countries.

Then-President Donald Trump tried to shut down the program, though he was stopped by the courts. A series of lawsuits challenging DACA spearheaded by Republican-led states continue making their way through the courts.

An estimated 400,000 young people who would have been eligible to apply for DACA have been shut out of the program since 2021, when a federal judge decided to halt the program for new registrants amid the ongoing legal challenges.

In addition to Nobles and Pacheco, the other witnesses include Mitchell Soto-Rodriguez, a police officer in Illinois who has DACA, and two immigration policy experts.

Irving Hernandez, 20, one of the hundreds of TheDream.US scholars and alumni who signed the organization's letter to Congress, is among those who have been shut out of DACA in recent years.

A junior at Metropolitan State University of Denver, Hernandez is studying health psychology and aspires to have a career helping people dealing with anxiety, depression, trauma and other mental health challenges.

"I want to be such a huge catalyst for change," he said.

Hernandez said he wants lawmakers to "give Dreamers the opportunity to succeed, because we really don't get that opportunities."

Supporters of DACA say it’s one of the most successful policies for immigrant integration.

Since DACA started in 2012, recipients have contributed $108 billion to the economy, as well as $33 billion in combined taxes, according to FWD.us, a bipartisan group supporting immigration reform. Most DACA recipients are young adults who have lived in the U.S. for more than 16 years.

Pacheco, a longtime advocate trying to bridge the political divide on Dreamer legislation, recalled testifying at a congressional hearing over a decade ago, shortly after she became a DACA recipient. Now sitting in front of senators as someone who was able to become a naturalized U.S. citizen after she was sponsored by her husband, Pacheco said she hopes to convey her life story to them, show the success of the DACA program and put a spotlight on the immigrant youth who have been shut out of the program.

Nicole Acevedo is a reporter for NBC News Digital. She reports, writes and produces stories for NBC Latino and NBCNews.com

EXCLUSIVE

IMMIGRATION

Democrats urge Biden to act on immigration as Trump threatens deportations

More than 80 lawmakers sent Biden some concrete ideas as his administration considers executive actions to address U.S. border crossings.

Rep. Nanette Barragan, D-Calif., said Biden "should seize this critical moment."

Kent Nishimura / Getty Images file

May 8, 2024, 
By Julie Tsirkin

WASHINGTON — Immigration advocates and Democratic lawmakers are urging President Joe Biden to prioritize long-term undocumented immigrants as his administration weighs executive actions to curb record crossings along the southern border.

In a letter signed by more than 80 lawmakers, including members of the Congressional Hispanic and Progressive caucuses, the Democrats ask Biden to “take all available actions to streamline pathways to lawful status for undocumented immigrants” ahead of the November election.

”Deporting all such individuals — as former President Donald Trump has threatened to do if reelected — would devastate the American economy and destroy American families,” they added.

The letter offers concrete steps they say the White House could take, including streamlining the process by which DACA recipients, or undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children, can seek to change to a non-immigrant status.

Arizona Sen. Kelly says immigration is the ‘most frustrating’ issue of his ‘adult life’

Lawmakers also ask Biden to unify families by allowing undocumented migrants married to U.S. citizens to seek parole on a case-by-case basis and reduce processing times for green card cases so that those migrants could be eligible to work.

The chair of the Hispanic Caucus, Rep. Nanette Barragan, D-Calif., said in a statement that Biden “should seize this critical moment by exercising his Executive Authority to rebuild our broken immigration system.”

“We urge him to provide pathways to citizenship and protections for the millions of long-term undocumented residents who have contributed to the rich fabric of the United States,” she said.

The new push follows a letter in March from Senate Democrats, led by Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Immigration Subcommittee Chair Alex Padilla, D-Calif., outlining the same call to action.

”As the Biden administration considers executive actions on immigration, we must not return to failed Trump-era policies aimed at banning asylum and moving us backwards,” Padilla told NBC News in a statement.

On Monday, NBC News reported that Biden is considering using his executive authority in the coming weeks to potentially restrict the number of migrants who can enter the U.S.

The administration has been in touch with immigration advocacy groups ahead of any executive order.

A Department of Homeland Security official with knowledge of the discussions said the White House would most likely invoke power reserved for the president in Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which allows a president discretion over who is admitted into the U.S.

Under that authority, Customs and Border Protection would be directed to block the entry of migrants crossing over from Mexico if daily border crossings passed a certain threshold. It’s similar to a provision of the border bill negotiated by a bipartisan group of senators earlier this year, which was killed by Republicans, in part, at Trump’s urging.

Advocates are worried that the policy would be too restrictive on asylum, as are some Democrats who opposed the bill in February and called for a legal pathway to citizenship for undocumented people in the U.S. to be included in the text.

Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus lobbied the administration over months to no avail, with Democratic leadership eventually giving up its long-held red line on immigration reform to unlock aid to Ukraine amid a Republican blockade.

The GOP rejected the bipartisan compromise regardless, effectively sinking all near-term prospects for Congress to tackle an issue that has plagued the U.S. government for years.

Nonetheless, Padilla said this is Biden’s “opportunity” to “provide relief for the long-term immigrants of this nation.”

The California Democrat is leading a press conference Wednesday afternoon with lawmakers and advocates from FWD.us, American Families United, UnidosUS and CASA to spotlight the letter to Biden.

The president of FWD.us, an immigration advocacy group, said in a statement that most Americans “don’t have the opportunity to improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of American families — but President Biden does.”

”He has the legal authority to provide affirmative relief to the spouses of U.S. citizens, and other longtime undocumented community members,” Todd Schulte said. “We hope, and believe, he will act soon to protect these American families.”

Trump says he'll push forward with plans to end DACA

President Donald Trump said he plans to submit new paperwork in his bid to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program. Photo by Stefani Reynolds/UPI | License Photo

June 19 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump said Friday he plans to continue his effort to dismantle the Deferred Actions for Childhood Arrivals program one day after the Supreme Court blocked his attempts to do so.

The high court ruled Thursday, by a vote of 5-4, that the Department of Homeland Security's efforts to end DACA was arbitrary and capricious and illegal under the federal Administrative Procedure Act.

Trump took to Twitter on Friday to signal his plans to continue his challenge to the Obama-era program.

"The Supreme Court asked us to resubmit on DACA, nothing was lost or won. They 'punted', much like in a football game (where hopefully they would stand for our great American Flag)," he tweeted.

RELATED Watchdog: CBP struggled to handle migrant surge at border

"We will be submitting enhanced papers shortly in order to properly fulfil the Supreme Court's ruling & request of yesterday. I have wanted to take care of DACA recipients better than the Do Nothing Democrats, but for two years they refused to negotiate - They have abandoned DACA. Based on the decision the Dems can't make DACA citizens. They gained nothing!"

Trump announced in 2017 plans to wind down the DACA program, saying it would give Congress a chance to pass "responsible" immigration reform. He could use executive action to end DACA, as Congress has been unable to agree on any legislation on the issue.

Ken Cuccinelli, the acting head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, told Fox & Friends the administration was starting the process over to end the program.

RELATED Trump administration proposes more restrictions on asylum

"We're going to move as quickly as we can to put options in front of the president," he said. "That still leaves open the appropriate solution which the Supreme Court mentioned and that is that Congress step up to the plate."

Former President Barack Obama used an executive order to create DACA in June 2012 to provide protections for undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children. It gives them the ability to obtain work permits and study in the country, provided they meet certain guidelines like graduating from high school and don't present a risk to national or public safety. Some 800,000 so-called Dreamers are protected under the program.

RELATED Federal judge blocks pandemic-based deportation of Honduran teen


Protesters rally against DACA repeal


Demonstrators protest President Donald Trump's decision to end the DACA program outside the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. Photo by Erin Schaff/UPI | License Photo

https://tinyurl.com/y8dmrkw6

Judge orders Trump administration to accept new DACA applications


The new order comes one month after the Supreme Court said the Trump administration's efforts to terminate DACA were arbitrary and capricious. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

July 17 (UPI) -- A federal judge in Maryland ordered the Trump administration to accept new applications for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program on Friday.

Since President Donald Trump began his efforts to terminate the program in 2017, the U.S. government hasn't accepted new applications. The administration has allowed existing DACA recipients -- undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children -- to continue to receive the protections.

Last month, though, the Supreme Court ruled that Trump's attempts to terminate DACA was arbitrary and capricious, and unconstitutional.

District Judge Paul Grimm on Friday said the Trump administration must enforce DACA according to its status before the efforts to terminate it.

RELATED Judge extends deadline for U.S. to release migrant children

CASA, the organization that sued to enforce DACA fully, welcomed the ruling.

"This DACA decision reaffirms what we already knew and what SCOTUS already said: the Trump admin's ... heartless attempt to terminate the DACA program was illegal and they must immediately begin accepting new DACA applications," the organization said on Twitter.

President Barack Obama started the DACA program with an executive order in 2012 in an effort to provide temporary relief from deportation for children brought to the United States by undocumented parents. It also allows them to work and go to school in the United States without risk of being sent to their country of birth.

RELATED U.S. imposes visa restrictions on employees of Chinese telecoms

Trump sought to end the program in favor of allowing Congress to pass its own immigration reform, which failed.

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 DACA Rule Release Aims to Bolster

 Program for ‘ Dreamers’ 

DACA recipients and their supporters rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on June 18, 2020.

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Aug. 24, 2022, \

Administration aims to fortify program’s legal standing

Fifth Circuit considering arguments on policy’s legality

The Biden administration on Wednesday released the final version of regulations intended to fortify the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program against legal challenges.

The program, launched in a 2012 memo by the Obama administration, offers protection from deportation and the ability to work legally to some 600,000 undocumented young people who came to the US as children. The regulation replaces the Obama-era memo and takes effect Oct. 31.

The Biden administration crafted the regulation in response to legal challenges that have plagued DACA since its inception. The rule doesn’t make the program bulletproof, however, as some litigants and judges question whether the Department of Homeland Security has authority to issue broad deportation protections at all.

“Today, we are taking another step to do everything in our power to preserve and fortify DACA, an extraordinary program that has transformed the lives of so many Dreamers,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement.

Mayorkas called on Congress to pass legislation to create a pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients, often known as Dreamers. Many lawmakers quickly echoed that sentiment, pushing the Senate to take up House-passed legislation (H.R. 6) protecting Dreamers and other undocumented immigrants.

“This step forward does not take away from the urgency for 10 Senate Republicans to join all Democrats to pass the House-passed bipartisan Dream and Promise Act and provide certainty and a pathway to citizenship for our hardworking Dreamers across the country,” Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.) said in a statement.

The legislation would need the support of 10 Republicans and all Democrats to meet the Senate’s 60-vote threshold—an uphill battle amid increasing Capitol Hill polarization on immigration policy ahead of midterm elections.

Inside the Rule

The DHS’s final regulation maintains existing criteria for DACA status and the process for seeking work authorization. The rule will apply only to DACA renewal requests, not to new applications, while a federal court order remains in place barring DHS from granting new requests for status.

DACA has faced challenges in court from Republican-led states even after a Trump administration effort to rescind the program was overturned by the US Supreme Court in 2020.

Last year, Houston-based US District Judge Andrew Hanen ruled the program was unlawful because it was created through a secretarial memo and not a formal rulemaking process. The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit heard arguments in an appeal of that ruling in July.

“DHS has carefully and respectfully considered all aspects of the analysis in that decision, including that decision’s conclusions about DACA’s substantive legality,” the agency said in the final regulation Wednesday, adding that it “respectfully disagrees.”

The Department of Homeland Security received more than 16,000 comments in response to a draft rule released in September. The proposed rule largely codified the 2012 memo that created the program.

However, the draft regulations allowed recipients to apply for deferred action and work eligibility separately, to the chagrin of immigration advocates and business groups who feared that could ultimately undermine employment authorization. The final version retains the existing process.

(Updated with additional reporting throughout.)