A federal judge ruled Friday that the DACA deportation amnesty was probably illegal when President Obama created it in 2012 — but he refused to halt the program altogether, leaving it to other courts to sort out a major legal mess.
Judge Andrew S. Hanen’s ruling clashes with those of several other federal courts which said President Trump’s attempt last year to phase out the DACA program was also illegal.
Taken on face, the rulings mean that the program is illegal — but so is the effort to erase it from the books.
The issues are likely to speed through the circuit courts and quickly reach the Supreme Court, perhaps during its upcoming session.
But for now it leaves the program mostly intact, with current DACA recipients able to renew their work permits and two-year stays of deportation, though no new illegal immigrants are able to apply. – READ MORE
[divider][/divider]U.S. District Judge John Bates said the government does not have to accept new Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) requests, on Friday, going back on his initial order from Aug. 3.
Illegal immigrants who were brought over as children, known as “Dreamers,” can renew their DACA applications, but no new requests will be processed, The Associated Pressreported.
Bates initially ordered U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to restart DACA by Aug. 23. USCIS warned restarting the program would force the agency to look at the uptick of roughly 50,000 new DACA applications instead of focusing on legal immigrant and guest worker applications, The Washington Times reported on Aug. 15.
The judge also delayed on providing special protections to DACA recipients. One of those protections is advance parole, where recipients can travel outside the U.S. and reenter the country, which can sometimes lead to citizenship. – READ MORE
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