US appeals court rules DACA unlawful ahead of Trump inauguration
Joshua Villanueva | UC Law San Francisco, US
January 18, 2025 09:27:19 am
A federal US appeals court on Friday held that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) violated US immigration law.
The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld a district court’s decision to block the DACA program, finding it to be unlawfully created. The court emphasized that since Congress had deliberately excluded DACA recipients from the nation’s comprehensive immigration and naturalization framework, “Congress’s rigorous classification scheme forecloses the contrary scheme in the DACA memorandum.” The panel noted that no party has claimed that either the US Supreme Court or an en banc Fifth Circuit court has issued a contrary ruling, nor has Congress amended the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
The court also stated: “Because Texas is the only plaintiff that has demonstrated or even attempted to demonstrate an actual injury, and because that injury is fully redressable by a geographically limited injunction, we narrow the scope of the injunction to Texas.”
In 2022, a panel of Fifth Circuit judges upheld a district court’s decision that held the DACA program illegal. The court prevented individuals from applying to the program but allowed current beneficiaries to renew their status. The panel allowed a stay issued by the lower court to remain in place, keeping the program temporarily alive.
https://www.jurist.org/news/2025/01/us-appeals-court-rules-daca-unlawful-ahead-of-trump-inauguration/
