78 thousand people are in limbo

This Thursday, a new hearing on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was held in the Federal Court for the Eastern District of New York.

This time, DACA beneficiaries turned out to request that the 78,000 applications for the benefit be processed for the first time, made between 2020 and 2021 and that are currently stalled.

According to the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), the hearing of the well-known Vidal vs. Mayorkas Battle, or simply the New York case, will be in charge of Judge Nicholas G Garaufis.

What happened during the hearing?

The Court for the Eastern District of New York heard oral arguments on the plaintiffs’ three requests for relief to fully implement the New York order without contradicting the Texas order, in which considering the illegality of DACA, prohibited the issuance of new applications to the program.

• The plaintiffs (DACA recipients) presented their arguments to order the federal government to process 78,000 applications for the first time of the program, submitted between December and July 2021 and that are currently stalled.
• They also seek to have Extended Renewal Applications awarded as renewals.
• Provide interim relief for 78,000 first-time DACA applicants who find themselves in limbo.

They look for answers

At least 30 activists left the hearing hand in hand and chanted in front of the Brooklyn headquarters of the Federal Court in favor of undocumented migrants: “The fight does not fade, stand with DACA,” or “Undocumented, without fear.” Without papers, without fear”.

Case Background

• This was the first lawsuit in the country in which DACA holders challenged the efforts of the administration of now former President Donald Trump to end the program in 2017.

• Judge Garaufis ordered the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in December 2020 to reopen the DACA program to new applications after Trump tried to suspend it.

• However, in 2021, the Texas federal judge, Andrew Hanen, declared the immigration program illegal, allowing only people who are already benefiting from it to continue renewing it. He prohibited the entry of new people.

• The 78,000 people who made their requests between the two dates were left in limbo.
• They are represented by NILC, as well as the Make the Road New York organization and the Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization at Yale Law School.

On Wednesday there was a hearing in the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Court in New Orleans. There, the appeal of the Government of Joe Biden to the ruling of Judge Hanen of Texas about the illegalization of the program established in 2012 during the presidency of Barack Obama was discussed.

According to USCIS data, as of December 31, 2012, there were some 611,470 Dreamers covered by DACA; however, those affected by the closure of the program would be more, since during the legal battle the possibility of approving new applications was restricted.

Main sources: NILC