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Biden Administration Appeals Texas’ Challenge To DACA

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The Biden administration appealed a previous ruling Friday that declared the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) illegal, CNN reported.

The Justice Department filed a notice to appeal the July decision by U.S. District Court Judge Andrew S. Hanen regarding DACA, CNN reported. A non-profit civil rights organization known as the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund also filed a notice to appeal. The organization is considered to be one of the country’s preeminent Latino civil rights organizations. They are also representing several DACA recipients, CNN reported. (RELATED: Federal Judge Will Continue Accepting DACA Applications Despite Believing The Program Is Illegal) 

The process will begin in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, CNN reported.

DACA was created in 2012 by the Obama administration as a way to allow illegal immigrants who were brought to the country as children by their parents to receive a deferred action from deportation. The participants in this group were often referred to as “Dreamers.” Now, many of DACA’s beneficiaries are now adults who stayed in the country past the timeframe the program permitted, according to CNN.

Hanen ruled in July that DACA was illegal and violates the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The decision prevented the Biden administration from accepting new DACA applications.

“Hundreds of thousands of individual DACA recipients, along with their employers, states, and loved ones, have come to rely on the DACA program. Given those interests, it is not equitable for a government program that has engendered such a significant reliance to terminate suddenly,” Hanen wrote at the time. “This consideration, along with the government’s assertion that it is ready and willing to try to remedy the legal defects of the DACA program indicates that equity will not be served by a complete immediate cessation of DACA.”

Hanen’s ruling prevented the government from allowing new DACA applications. However, his order permitted current enrollees to stay while the case is being challenged in court. Most recently, after Hanen’s decision, a DACA regulation was proposed to attempt to resolve the chaotic situation. The proposal was submitted to the Office of Management and Budget.