DACA dealt a legal setback by federal appeals court

(CNN) — A federal appeals court on Friday dealt the immigration program known as DACA a legal setback, keeping the program alive but teeing up a showdown at the Supreme Court.

In a unanimous ruling, a three-judge panel of the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the policy was unlawful but said that a federal judge in Texas had erred in concluding that the entire program should be halted nationwide. The court instead narrowed the injunction against part of the program so it would only apply to Texas.

The ruling injects fresh uncertainty for around half a million recipients of the Obama-era program that allows undocumented immigrants who were brought to the US illegally to live and work in the United States.

The appeals court kept in place a pause on a lower-court ruling that barred the government nationwide from accepting new applications to the program, meaning that for now, DACA remains largely intact.

“Because (Department of Homeland Security) intended the aspects of DACA to be severable and to function independently from one another, the district court erred by not severing the forbearance provisions from the work-authorization provisions,” Judge Jerry Smith, Ronald Reagan appointee, wrote in the ruling.

Nina Perales, vice president of litigation for MALDEF, which represents DACA recipients in the case, said it’s unclear what the court’s ruling means for DACA participants in Texas who are allowed to work.

“It’s striking down that part of the DACA rule that makes DACA recipients eligible for work authorization consideration,” Perales said.

“That answer is not provided in the decision,” Perales said, when asked whether the ruling would strip work permits away from DACA recipients. “It’s unlikely that it means a sudden end to work authorization, given that even Texas in the case was asking for a wind down.”

The court said that it would keep its ruling on hold “pending a further order of this court or the Supreme Court.” It’s unclear what the incoming Trump administration, which has shown a hostility to DACA, will decide to do with the ruling.

The Obama-era program has faced numerous legal challenges over the years. Under President Joe Biden, the program was codified through the federal rule-making process, but met with yet another challenge by a group of Republican-led states that argued the program harmed their states due to the public health care and educational spending that goes to DACA recipients.

The appeals court judges said in their ruling that the rule “is materially identical” to the program created via executive action in 2012 and contrary to federal immigration law, which they said did not give DHS the authority to set up the DACA scheme.

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