Update 1/21/2025: The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on January 17, 2025 against the DACA program, but allowed renewals to continue. At this time, nothing has changed for current DACA recipients.
While the Fifth Circuit upheld Judge Hanen’s ruling that DACA is illegal, they preserved the stay that allows renewals to continue, keeping the status quo in place. The Fifth Circuit also ordered that the injunction blocking DACA protections must be limited to only the state of Texas, and only to the work authorization component of DACA. While theoretically, when the mandate goes into effect 45 days from the decision date, this could allow the government to resume processing initial DACA applications for individuals in states other than Texas, what comes next in the court case and the choices the new administration will take are unclear at the moment. Experts agree that the status quo of only allowing renewals for current recipients will likely continue for the time being.
The Supreme Court could control the futures of more than 500,000 DACA recipients
The Supreme Court could decide within the next year whether to hear a case about the legality of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy.
In September 2023, Judge Andrew Hanen, a federal judge in the Southern District of Texas, issued a ruling declaring that the DACA program is illegal. While that ruling from Judge Hanen does not impact DACA recipients’ current protections or their ability to continue to renew them, the decision was another cruel and disheartening indication that the courts plan to terminate this vital lifeline for hundreds of thousands of young immigrants and their families.
Judge Hanen’s ruling was not the final step. While higher courts upheld Judge Hanen’s decision on appeal, they have allowed renewals to continue, and further appeals are expected, which could ultimately send the case up to the Supreme Court as early as 2025.
Considering the current makeup of the Court and its previous immigration decisions, there’s a good chance the Justices could also rule against DACA. If the Supreme Court ultimately upholds Judge Hanen’s ruling, and if the Court prohibits the government from processing DACA renewals, the more than 500,000 current DACA recipients could be stripped of their ability to work legally, and would be exposed to the threat of deportation.
DACA has been in legal limbo for many years
For more than half a decade, DACA has faced protracted litigation that has created overwhelming uncertainty for current recipients, and has prevented the government from processing requests from new applicants.