President Joe Biden’s administration suffered a setback on Wednesday when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit declared the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to be illegal.
DACA was implemented illegally, according to the Fifth Circuit court, since the Administrative Procedure Act’s notice and comment requirement was not followed (APA).
According to Fifth Circuit Chief Judge Priscilla Richman’s opinion, DACA “established a structured, efficient framework for giving immensely large, specified benefits to over 800,000 persons. That qualifies as a substantive rule. DACA breaches the APA’s procedural rules since it did not undergo notice and comment.”
The three-judge bench remanded the lawsuit to U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen’s court notwithstanding the Fifth Circuit’s finding that DACA was illegal due to a newly passed Biden administration regulation.
According to Richman, “a district judge is in the best position to examine the administrative record in the rule-making process.”
On October 31, the new Biden DACA regulation that was announced in August would come into force. Similar in many ways to the 2012 memo issued by then-President Barack Obama that established DACA, Biden’s DACA regulation was open for public input as part of the regulation process.
On Tuesday, October 4, 2022, in the State Dining Hall of the White House in Washington, President Joe Biden addresses the women’s rights task committee.
Republican opponents claim that DACA is unlawful even with notice and comment because it changes immigration law without the consent of Congress, which is referred to be a substantive APA violation. Therefore, it’s feasible that the new Biden DACA will also be declared illegal.
DACA advocates and students demonstrate in the heart of Los Angeles, California.
Judge Hanen concurred with conservative states that had challenged DACA in July 2021 and determined that Obama had erroneously enacted the policy. Now, before the new program is set to go into action, he will study it as well.
In response to Judge Hanen’s decision, the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans banned the program from admitting new applicants while Hanen is still considering the new regulations but permitted current DACA recipients to continue to receive government benefits.
The three-judge panel — which includes Judge James Ho, a vocal textualist and originalist who is well-liked by constitutional conservatives — explained that they were unable to issue a final, conclusive ruling because DHS’s administrative record was left out of the package submitted to the appeals court for review. They then gave Hanen the go-ahead to review the administrative record in order to issue a final verdict as as quickly as possible. The court ordered that “those issues of law must be settled sooner instead of later to move this case forward as expediently as possible,” giving Hanen sufficient time to halt the new initiative with an injunction and for the Fifth Circuit to take up a thorough review for a final decision. The court made note that the new Biden rules and regulations are set to go into effect on October 31.