A federal judge in Texas ruled on Friday that DACA, a program offered to undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children protection from deportation, is unlawful.
DACA also authorizes recipients of the program to work in the US.
US District Judge Andrew Hanen found that the program, created under the administration of President Barack Obama in 2012, was “created in violation of the law and whose existence violates the law,” he wrote, adding that Obama has “overstepped” his authority.
Texas and several other Conservative states, Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, South Carolina and West Virginia, filed the lawsuit.
Eligible applicants must have arrived in the US before age 16 and have lived in the country since June 15, 2007. Recipients must also renew their protections every two years. There is no permanent protection or a pathway to citizenship.
Following the ruling, President Joe Biden said that his administration would appeal the decision.
“Yesterday’s Federal court ruling is deeply disappointing,” Biden said in a statement Saturday. “While the court’s order does not now affect current DACA recipients, this decision nonetheless relegates hundreds of thousands of young immigrants to an uncertain future.”
He also called on Congress to create a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers.
“I have repeatedly called on Congress to pass the American Dream and Promise Act, and I now renew that call with the greatest urgency,” he said. “It is my fervent hope that through reconciliation or other means, Congress will finally provide security to all Dreamers, who have lived too long in fear.”
