Republican States File Lawsuit to Cease DACA Protections for Illegal Immigrants

Students and supporters rally in support of DACA recipients on the day the Supreme Court hears arguments in DACA case in Los Angeles, Calif., on Nov. 12, 2019. Mario Tama/Getty Images

Nine Republican states have filed a lawsuit asking a federal judge to end the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) immigration program, aiming to phase it out over two years, and insisted that President Joe Biden overstepped his authority when he renewed it in 2022.

DACA allows illegal immigrants who arrived in the United States as children to receive a two-year renewable deferred action from deportation, making them eligible for a work permit. President Biden renewed the DACA program last year, transforming it into a federal regulation. The renewal was announced in August 2022. It came into effect on Oct. 31, with the regulation replacing former president Barack Obama’s 2012 memo that initially established DACA.

In 2021, U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Hanen declared the 2012 memo as unlawful, a decision upheld by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in 2022. The court decision prevented first-time DACA applications from getting approved by the Biden administration. However, it allows existing DACA beneficiaries to continue renewing their enrollment.

On Tuesday, nine Republican-led states asked Judge Hanen to strike down DACA by finding last year’s regulations unlawful. They also want the court to phase out the program over two years.

“The Final Rule—as the latest manifestation of the DACA program—is substantively unlawful for the same reasons as the DACA Memorandum. The Court should declare it unlawful and unconstitutional, vacate it in its entirety, and permanently enjoin its implementation (with a prudent transition for existing DACA recipients),” the lawsuit stated.

The nine states that filed the lawsuit are: Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, South Carolina, Texas, and West Virginia.

Overstepping Authority

In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs argue that President Biden overstepped his constitutional authority by renewing DACA without getting approval from Congress.

“This lawsuit is about the scope of executive power, not the wisdom of any particular immigration policy. No president can unilaterally override Congress’s duly enacted laws simply because he prefers different policy choices,” it said.

Biden’s decision on DACA suffers from the “same substantive flaws” as Obama’s earlier decision that was “already found unlawful by this Court and the Fifth Circuit.”

The lawsuit stated that roughly 14,000 aliens have used the DACA program to “adjust their immigration status,” thereby giving them a path to American citizenship which is “contrary to law.” Biden’s renewal last year, called the Final Rule, continues this policy, it argued.

Back in 2017, the Trump administration had tried to terminate DACA, calling it unlawful. However, such attempts were thwarted by the courts.

DACA Beneficiaries, Criminal Elements

Some 800,000 people are estimated to be DACA beneficiaries. Roughly two-thirds of immigrants enrolled in the DACA program are estimated to be between the ages of 21 and 30.

The top countries of origin for DACA beneficiaries include Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, and South Korea. Mexico alone accounts for 81 percent of the beneficiaries.

Critics have accused DACA of allowing criminals into the United States. According to 2018 data from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, almost 8 percent of total DACA requestors were found to have arrest records. The arrests were for offenses like murder, rape, assault, and drunk driving.

“Many of the people in DACA, no longer very young, are far from ‘angels.’ Some are very tough, hardened criminals. President Obama said he had no legal right to sign the order, but would anyway. If Supreme Court remedies with overturn, a deal will be made with Dems for them to stay!” former president Donald Trump stated in a tweet on Nov. 12, 2019.

In January, an illegal alien who had benefited from the DACA program was sentenced to life in prison for murdering three people in Springfield, Missouri, in 2018.