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Federal Judge Declares DACA Illegal Again; ILCM Calls for Congressional Action
Posted on Sep 14 2023
Federal Judge Declares DACA Illegal Again; ILCM Calls for Congressional Action
September 14, 2023— Wednesday’s ruling against the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program once again threatens the security of young immigrants who were brought to this country as children. The court did not order the Biden administration to shut down the DACA program or stop processing renewal applications at this time, but “until Congress acts to pass the DREAM Act, every DACA recipient remains in jeopardy, their status threatened by every new court ruling,” said Veena Iyer, executive director of the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota (ILCM).
“DACA protects young people who have grown up in our communities, who risked their lives working in our hospitals and nursing homes during the pandemic, whose children are U.S. citizens.”
The legal battle over DACA began in 2017, with an attempt by the Trump administration to end the program. The September 13, 2023, decision from a federal district judge in Texas is the latest in a long series of rulings in litigation challenging DACA. The next step will be an appeal to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Today DACA protects nearly 600,000 young immigrants who grew up in the United States, including almost 5,000 in Minnesota. These DACA recipients include the parents of approximately 300,000 U.S. citizen children. DACA recipients include nearly 34,000 health care workers, 20,000 educators, and a total of 343,000 essential workers. They own 68,000 homes. DACA recipient households pay $6.2 billion in federal taxes and $3.3 billion in state and local taxes each year.
More than a million young people across the country—and more than 8,000 in Minnesota—are eligible for DACA but have not been allowed to apply because of the court orders issued in the ongoing legal battles. The only sure protection for current DACA recipients and for these eligible young people is Congressional action to open a path to permanent legal status and citizenship.