By Edith Loyola 
An appeals court in New Orleans, located in the southern United States, heard arguments this Thursday regarding the continuation of the DACA immigration program. This program grants residence and work permits to over 530,000 “Dreamers”, individuals who arrived in the country irregularly during their childhood.
According to reports, DACA was established in 2012 under the administration of Democrat Barack Obama (2009-2017) and is currently facing a legal battle due to a lawsuit filed by Texas and other Republican-led states that oppose the program.
Specifically, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals is reviewing the legality of a 2021 action by the Biden administration to formalize DACA as a federal regulation, since it was initially implemented through a memorandum. The case reached the court after District Judge Andrew Hanen declared the Biden administration’s action illegal last year.
As a result of Hanen’s ruling, the federal government is prohibited from granting or approving new DACA applications, although benefits for the more than 530,000 current recipients remain intact.
The attorneys representing the Biden administration and DACA recipients argued before the appeals court that Texas cannot demonstrate any harm caused by the program. However, Texas authorities contend that they must bear the educational and healthcare costs incurred by DACA beneficiaries residing in the state.
In this regard, Gaby Pacheco, president of the migrant advocacy organization TheDream.US, warned in a statement, “The future of ‘Dreamers’ hangs by a thread,” and lamented the lack of immigration reform that would grant them U.S. citizenship.
“As a DACA recipient, it fills me with anxiety to see that my livelihood and the security of more than 530,000 active DACA beneficiaries are at stake in the courts,” expressed Felecia Russell, director of Higher Ed Immigration Portal.
According to reports, more than 530,000 people are enrolled in the DACA program, the majority of them in California, Texas, Illinois, and New York.
Politically, the Democratic candidate in the upcoming November presidential elections, Vice President Kamala Harris, supports the DACA program. In contrast, her Republican rival, former President Donald Trump (2017-2021), attempted to cancel the program in 2017 and has promised mass deportations of undocumented migrants if he returns to the White House.