Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals is a United States immigration policy that allows some individuals who, on June 15, 2012, were physically present in the United States with no lawful immigration status after having entered the country as children at least five years earlier, to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and to be eligible for an employment authorization document.
On November 9, 2023, an appeal was brought before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to determine whether a September 2023 federal district court order that would terminate the codified form of DACA, based on it being in violation of federal law, will be upheld and implemented. Oral argument in the case was heard on October 10, 2024.
Background
Origin
The DREAM Act bill, which would have provided a pathway to permanent residency for undocumented immigrants brought to the United States upon meeting certain qualifications, was considered by Congress in 2007. It failed to overcome a bipartisan filibuster in the Senate. It was considered again in 2011. The bill passed the House, but did not get the 60 votes needed to overcome a Republican filibuster in the Senate. In 2013, legislation had comprehensively reformed the immigration system, including allowing Dreamers permission to stay in the country, work and attend school; this passed the Senate but was not brought up for a vote in the House. The New York Times credits the failure of Congress to pass the DREAM Act bill as the driver behind Obama's decision to sign DACA.The policy was created after acknowledgment that "Dreamer" young people had been largely raised in the United States, and this was seen as a way to remove immigration enforcement attention from "low priority" individuals with good behavior. "Dreamers" get their name from the DREAM Act, a bill that aimed to grant legal status to young immigrants residing in the U.S. unlawfully after being brought in by their parents. The undocumented immigrant young population was rapidly increasing; approximately 65,000 undocumented immigrant students graduate from U.S. high schools on a yearly basis. The vast majority of Dreamers are from Mexico.
To be eligible for the program, recipients cannot have felonies or serious misdemeanors on their records. Unlike the proposed DREAM Act, DACA does not provide a path to citizenship for recipients. The policy, an executive branch memorandum, was announced by President Barack Obama on June 15, 2012. This followed a campaign by immigrants, advocates and supporters which employed a range of tactics. President Obama explained the limits of DACA, "Let's be clear -- this is not amnesty, this is not immunity. This is not a path to citizenship." A senior government official said, "Deferred action is not a pathway to citizenship. It is not legal status. It simply says that for three years, you are not a law enforcement priority and are not going to go after you... It is temporary and it is revocable."
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services began accepting applications for the program on August 15, 2012.
Demographics
DACA recipients come to the United States from all over the world, over 100 different countries, however, a majority were born in Mexico, about 80%. According to the American Immigration Council, there have been roughly 834,877 DACA recipients since 2012. The three countries of origin with the largest amount of DACA recipients are Mexico, with about 428,340, followed by El Salvador, and Guatemala. Once in the United States, the most common states of residence for DACA recipients are California and Texas, though significant numbers were also found in New York and Florida.Effects
Research has shown that DACA increased the wages and employment status of DACA-eligible immigrants, and improved the mental health outcomes for DACA participants and their children. Research also suggests it reduced the number of undocumented immigrant households living in poverty. There is no evidence to indicate that DACA recipients have higher crime rates than native-born Americans; most research shows that immigrants have lower crime rates than native-born Americans. Economists reject that DACA has adverse effects on the U.S. economy or that it adversely affects the labor market outcomes of native-born Americans. In August 2018, USCIS estimated there were 699,350 active DACA recipients residing in the United States. Immigration researchers estimate the population to be between 690,000 and 800,000 people. Another estimate is "approximately 636,390 DACA recipients as of December 31, 2020".Establishment
President Barack Obama announced the policy at the White House on June 15, 2012, the 30th anniversary of Plyler v. Doe, a Supreme Court decision barring public schools from charging undocumented immigrant children tuition. The policy was officially established by a memorandum from the Secretary of Homeland Security titled "Exercising Prosecutorial Discretion with Respect to Individuals Who Came to the United States as Children". This policy allowed certain immigrants to escape deportation and obtain work permits for a period of two years—renewable upon good behavior. To apply, immigrants had to be younger than 31 on June 15, 2012, must have come to the U.S. when they were younger than 16, and must have lived in the U.S. since 2007. In August 2012, the Pew Research Center estimated that up to 1.7 million people were eligible.United States Citizenship and Immigration Services began accepting applications for the program on August 15, 2012., USCIS had received 844,931 initial applications for DACA status, of which 741,546 were approved, 60,269 were denied, and 43,121 were pending. Over half of those accepted reside in California and Texas. According to an August 2017 survey, most current registrants are in their 20s, and about 80% arrived in the United States when they were 10 or younger.
In November 2014, Obama announced his intention to expand DACA to make more people eligible. However, in December 2014, Texas and 25 other states, all with Republican governors, sued the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas asking the court to enjoin implementation of both the DACA expansion and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans . In February 2015, Judge Andrew S. Hanen issued a preliminary injunction blocking the expansion from going into effect while the case, Texas v. United States, proceeded. After progressing through the court system, an equally divided Supreme Court left the injunction in place, without setting any precedent.
Reaction
leaders denounced the DACA program as an abuse of executive power.Nearly all Republicans in the House of Representatives voted 224–201 to defund DACA in June 2013. Lead author of the amendment Rep. Steve King stated, "The point here is... the President does not have the authority to waive immigration law, nor does he have the authority to create it out of thin air, and he's done both with these Morton memos in this respect."
Regulatory history
In November 2014, President Obama announced his intention to expand DACA to cover additional undocumented immigrants. Multiple states immediately sued to prevent the expansion, which was blocked June 23, 2016 by an evenly divided U.S. Supreme Court in United States v. Texas.Under President Donald Trump, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security rescinded the expansion in June 2017, while it continued to review the existence of DACA as a whole. In September 2017, the Trump administration announced a plan to phase out DACA, triggering multiple lawsuits challenging this action. The government deferred implementation of this plan for six months to allow Congress time to pass the DREAM Act or some other legislative protection for undocumented immigrants. Congress failed to act and the time extension expired on March 5, 2018, but three separate U.S. district courts ordered an injunction preventing the phase-out of the DACA by this date, on the likelihood that the rescinding was arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act. Separately, on August 31, 2018, district court judge Andrew Hanen of the Southern District of Texas ruled that DACA is likely unconstitutional, but he let the program remain in place as litigation proceeded. The Supreme Court, ruling on June 18, 2020, on the three injunctions blocking the rescission of the DACA, affirmed that the reasoning given for the rescission was arbitrary and capricious under the APA, but did not rule on the merits of the DACA itself nor prevent the government from issuing a new rescission with better rationale.
On January 20, 2021, President Joe Biden issued an executive order reinstating DACA. On July 16, 2021, Andrew Hanen ruled that the program was "created in violation of the law" and "illegally implemented." He barred the government from accepting new applications to the program, effectively cancelling Biden's executive order. However, the ruling allows for immigrants currently protected by the program to keep their status and allow DACA renewals while the case goes through the appeals process. An appellate court in October 2022 affirmed that DACA is "unlawful". The case was then returned to the same federal district court judge to consider whether a formal set of regulatory amendments promulgated by the Biden administration to codify DACA into federal regulations on October 31, 2022 made the program lawful.
On September 13, 2023, Hanen ruled that the codified form of DACA violated federal law. However, he "maintained the status quo" for current DACA recipients by "preserv the stay", and specifically noted in the ruling and in a supplemental order that he was not ordering any deportation or other immigration or criminal action against any DACA recipient. The decision has been appealed to the Fifth Circuit and may eventually be heard by the Supreme Court.