Judge Delivers Devastating Blow To Barack Obama

A federal judge in Texas has upheld a previous ruling affirming the legality of the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, commonly known as "DACA."

U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen recently ruled that a revised version of DACA, which shields thousands of migrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children from deportation, remains lawful despite legal challenges.

"In his decision on Wednesday, Hanen referenced the court's action on July 16, 2021, which invalidated the original DACA program established in 2012," as reported by Fox News.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans upheld this decision, confirming Hanen's stance on Wednesday.

Hanen's ruling stated, "The DACA program has been invalidated, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is prohibited from implementing the Final Rule DACA until further orders from this Court, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, or the U.S. Supreme Court."

However, Hanen allowed the program to continue for individuals who obtained DACA status before July 16, 2021. This includes processing renewal applications for existing DACA recipients.

While new applications can be submitted to DHS, Hanen specified that the agency is not authorized to approve them. DHS was also instructed to publish the injunction notice on relevant DACA management and processing entities' websites and its own site.

Hanen clarified, "A Final Judgment has not yet been issued in this case, so any unresolved matters not addressed by an appellate court remain under this Court's jurisdiction."

Fox News continued:

The decision comes more than a month after attorneys representing the states of Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Carolina, West Virginia, Kansas and Mississippi — all states that sued to end the Obama-era program — as well as lawyers for the U.S. Department of Justice and DACA recipients were to appear before Hanen to debate the issue.

Hanen, in 2021, declared DACA illegal, ruling that the program had not been subjected to public notice and comment periods required under the federal Administrative Procedures Act. He also said the nine states seeking to stop DACA had standing to file their lawsuit because they had been harmed by the program.

The White House issued the following statement Wednesday night expressing its disappointment with the ruling.

“We are deeply disappointed in today’s DACA ruling from the District Court in Southern Texas. On day one of his Administration, President Biden issued a memorandum directing the federal government to take all appropriate actions to ‘preserve and fortify’ the DACA policy,” the statement said.

“Consistent with that directive, the Administration has defended the DACA policy from legal challenges, and issued a final rule codifying this longstanding policy. During this Administration, hundreds of thousands of DACA recipients have been able to live and work lawfully in our country without fear of deportation,” the statement continued.

“As we have long maintained, we disagree with the District Court’s conclusion that DACA is unlawful, and will continue to defend this critical policy from legal challenges. While we do so, consistent with the court’s order, DHS will continue to process renewals for current DACA recipients and DHS may continue to accept DACA applications,” the statement concluded.

The states that sued argued that they incur massive expenses for health care, education, law enforcement, and other costs and services when immigrants are allowed to illegally remain in the country.