A federal judge in the US state of Texas has canceled new applications from the DACA program. The program protects young adults from deportation if they were illegally brought into the country by their parents as children.
–
Judge Andrew Hanen’s ruling supports the call from several American states to dismantle the DACA program. They believe that the program was illegally created under the presidency of Democratic President Barack Obama in 2012.
–
Nevertheless, the judge stated that his ruling should not be interpreted as an order for deportation for the already existing participants in the program. This group of 650,000 so-called ‘dreamers’ can still dream of regularization of their residence status.
–
Migrants can receive special status through the DACA program. It temporarily protects them from deportation and gives them the right to work, but not the opportunity to acquire US citizenship.
–
Battle for dreamers
Hanen’s statement is yet another move in a battle for the fate of the Dreamers. Former President Donald Trump halted the program in 2017, but was overturned by the Supreme Court in November 2020. At the time, it ruled that the Trump administration’s decision was “arbitrary and unpredictable.”
–
Immediately after taking office, current president Joe Biden ordered that the program be strengthened. The Democrat was Vice President under Obama when the DACA program was established. He favors a permanent solution for the dreamers: both the current group of young adults and future ‘illegal’ child migrants should be able to become US citizens, Biden said. A bill that would allow such migrants to become Americans within three years was defeated in Congress early this year.
–
Free unlimited access to Showbytes? Which can!
Log in or create an account and don’t miss out on any of the stars.
–
–
