(San Francisco, CA)--The Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) will continue to defend the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program which has granted close to 1 million immigrant youth protection from deportation. The ILRC, along with our partners, will continue to fight US District Court Judge Andrew Hanen’s ruling today declaring DACA unlawful in a case brought by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and joined by 9 states. Today’s decision does not affect current recipients and their ability to renew their DACA cases but blocks the government from approving new applications for DACA from first-time applicants.
“This lawsuit is rooted in hateful anti-immigrant sentiment and is without merit. The DACA program was won by years of organizing by immigrant youth who remain undeterred. We will defend DACA alongside our partners to protect the hundreds of thousands of individuals and their families who benefit from the program,” said Veronica Garcia, an ILRC staff attorney. “This lawsuit has been another attack on immigrant communities and communities of color led by Texas, known for the most regressive anti-immigrant state law in the country, SB 4.”
The Biden Harris Administration must take concrete steps to ensure that all DACA recipients, their families, TPS recipients and all other populations at risk of deportation are protected from these constant attacks by ending all immigration enforcement activities, immigration detention and deportation. It is more urgent now than ever for Congress to pass an inclusive legislative solution, that will enshrine permanent status and prevent the deportation and separation of families.
The lawsuit led by Paxton was joined by Republican attorneys general in nine states and was filed in 2018. The other plaintiff states are: Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Nebraska, South Carolina, and West Virginia.