A delegation of San Diegans joined hundreds of other DACA recipients and supporters in New Orleans Thursday as a federal appeals court weighed the fate of the Obama-era program that currently allows more than half a million undocumented people brought to the United States as children to live and work in the country without fear of deportation.
“Today I came as a DACA recipient,” said Irving Hernández, 29, who grew up in the Rancho San Diego area. He has lived in San Diego since he was brought to the United States at age 6. “I’ve been a recipient of the program since October of 2012.”
“Today I came to put a face to the program, let these judges know that we are here to stay, we are here to fight, there is no other home for us than the United States… and they have the power today to ensure our safety and our future in this country.”
Hernández said that people who wish to support their efforts can help by calling their elected officials and demanding protections for DREAMers, and by exercising their right to vote in the upcoming election.
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy was enacted in 2012 to protect a population of people — also called DREAMers after previous legislation — who came to the United States as children. Many have only faint memories of their country of birth, if any at all.
DACA has been the subject of a years-long court battle and remains in legal jeopardy due to a lawsuit by Texas and eight other Republican-led states that oppose the policy.
Texas and other states have argued in court documents and legal briefs that DACA recipients have incurred hundreds of millions of dollars in health care, education, and other costs, and that they have harmed the country by emptying public resources — a common, but false trope about undocumented people that has been disproved by study after study.
“DACA recipients are continuously paying taxes, they have jobs, they’re not going to be taking advantage of public benefit programs that Texas claim they’re all taking advantage of,” said Michelle Celleri, an immigration attorney and legal rights director for immigration and civil rights advocacy group Alliance San Diego.
“We’re trying to decide whether Texas even has the ability to bring a lawsuit against this program.”
As of the end of June 2024, there were more than half a million people enrolled in DACA. More than half of them lived in California, Texas, Illinois, and New York, according to government data.
Defenders of the policy argue that Congress has given the executive branch’s Department of Homeland Security authority to set immigration policy, and that the states challenging the program have no basis to sue.
“They cannot identify any harms flowing from DACA,” Nina Perales, vice president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, said this week
As the hourlong hearing opened, Brian Boynton, arguing for the Biden administration, said the states have no standing to sue because they have demonstrated no harm caused by DACA. He said his argument is bolstered by Supreme Court decisions made since the 5th Circuit heard and rejected that contention in 2022.
Judge Jerry Smith pushed back. “I don’t understand how you get anywhere with that argument,” Smith said, stating that the Supreme Court precedents don’t contain unequivocal language that would require the appeals court to back off its previous finding.
Judge Stephen Higginson seemed more willing to consider the argument.
“A dramatic or sea change in analysis allows us to follow the Supreme Court instead of errant 5th Circuit law?” Stephenson asked.
“That’s correct,” replied Boynton.
Judges on the panel gave no indication when or how they will rule. The case will almost certainly wind up at the Supreme Court.
Former President Barack Obama first put the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in place in 2012, citing inaction by Congress on legislation aimed at giving those brought to the U.S. as youngsters a path to legal status and citizenship. Years of litigation followed. President Joe Biden renewed the program in hopes of winning court approval.
But in September 2023, U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen in Houston said the executive branch had overstepped its authority. Hanen barred the government from approving new applications, but left it intact for existing recipients during appeals. Boynton asked the 5th Circuit judges to keep that policy while appeals continue if they rule against DACA.
The Texas Attorney General’s Office did not respond to an emailed interview request. The other states challenging DACA are Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Carolina, West Virginia, Kansas, and Mississippi.
The panel hearing the case consists of Smith, nominated to the 5th Circuit by former President Ronald Reagan; Edith Brown Clement, nominated by former President George W. Bush; and Higginson, nominated by Obama.
Irving Hernández said he’s optimistic after the hearing.
“We’re your neighbors, we’re your brothers, we’re your sisters. We can create a better country, but it requires all of us.”
Associated Press contributed to this report.
