Yesterday’s ruling sends case back to the lower courts
Washington, D.C. — Yesterday evening, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Texas v United States against the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) program. The panel of judges remanded the case back to Judge Hanen in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Texas to ultimately decide the future of the program. While the court ruled that the DACA program is unlawful, this ruling maintains a stay that will allow for current DACA recipients to continue renewing their applications.
The UndocuBlack Network remains undeterred in our fight to defend DACA while demanding that the Biden-Harris Administration and its Democrat-led Congress act now. We’ve always known that DACA was not enough and that the program would keep members of our community in legal limbo, holding their breath between court rulings. Green cards and eventual citizenship for all immigrant families and communities is the only way for our people to truly live in this country, rather than just exist in the spaces between litigation results and temporary program deadlines.
Yesterday’s Fifth Circuit ruling demonstrated that litigations over DACA are unabating and in the absence of a permanent protection, DACA and other temporary protections will continue to be at the mercy and whim of court adjudications that will continue to toy with the lives of our communities.
Patrice Lawrence, Executive Director of UndocuBlack Said: The Biden-Harris Administration has the trifecta, the White House, the House of Representatives and the Senate. That remains true at least until January 2023. Despite of all this power, what also remains true is that since the beginning of this presidency, the Biden-Harris Administration, like previous administrations, have treated undocumented people with little to no regard for their dignity. Through lost opportunities to create a DACA rule that allowed for processing of new applications, and the lack of legislation that would provide our people with green cards and opportunities to apply for citizenship, the Biden-Harris Administration has failed us. However, these harms can be remedied before the end of the 117th Congress. It is still possible for Congress to pass legislation that permanently protects all undocumented people regardless of age, background, gender, how they pray or their ethnicity. Black undocumented people have waited too long, organized too hard for our communities to be perpetually pushed aside and tossed around at the whim of the U.S. judicial system. We know Judge Hanen's anti-immigrant track record and can predict that he will likely not rule favorably for DACA recipients. We also reiterate that DACA is not and was never enough. The time for elected officials to put action where mere words have always been is now. We need passage of legislation that will provide green cards and citizenship for all before January 2023.”
Ronnie James, Community Engagement Coordinator of UndocuBlack and DACA Recipient said: “While I am grateful my time-bound subscription to the US has survived another court case. I am keenly aware that my future depends on the decisions of yet another judge. DACA remains insufficient and insecure. Myself, fellow DACA recipients, and all other immigrants without permanent status/security deserve the ability to adjust our status through green cards. Congress and the Biden-Harris Administration have the power to do this before the end of the year. Renewing Immigration Provisions of the Immigration Act of 1929 by passing (S.4974) would provide access to lawful permanent residence for me and up to 8 million individuals.”
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