The Fight over DAPA and DACA Rages On

On May 31, 2016, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) took action to prevent an activist federal judge, Andrew Hanen, from imposing sanctions on DOJ prosecutors, which would require them to attend mandatory ethics classes. Judge Hanen is the same judge who put a halt to expanding President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) programs by issuing a temporary injunction to those programs that would have taken effect in February 2015. Hanen, who has a history of being “tough” on immigrants, also ordered the federal government to turn over the names, addresses and contact information for more than 100,000 immigrants who live in the United States, even as the U.S. Supreme Court is preparing to rule on the legality of President Obama’s immigration programs in United States v. Texas. A ruling is expected sometime this summer on that case.

Why the judge believes he is right

Hanen believes that the DOJ lawyers intentionally misled him when parts of the DACA and DAPA programs were implemented for the more than 100,000 applicants prior to February 18, 2015, the date they were supposed to go into effect. When this information was disclosed in government briefs, Judge Hanen accused the DOJ attorneys of misrepresenting facts in federal court. Hanen then ordered the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to release the names of all of the individuals who had been granted benefits under the programs despite their ineligibility to receive those benefits.

In an article on the ThinkProgress.org blog, Greisa Martinez, Advocacy Director for United We Dream, is quoted as having said, the judge is “asking for the personal information of young people just to whip up fear.” Thankfully, the DOJ was able to put an end to this fear mongering – for now.

Where DAPA and DACA stand now

Those 100,000 applicants for an extension to the DACA program and the creation of the DACA program are people who are trying to keep their families intact in the United States, and they want to remain contributing members of American society. The DAPA program benefits the undocumented parents of citizens and lawful permanent residents.

For the moment, the fate of the DACA and DAPA programs remain in legal limbo until the Supreme Court makes their final ruling on President Obama’s immigration reform initiatives. The justices have several options before them in resolving the case of the United States v. Texas. They can decide whether or not the President exceeded his authority in initiating the executive actions, they could defer the decision to the next term until a new justice is sworn in, or if the justices are divided on the issue, they can simply choose not to issue an opinion and allow the ruling of the lower court to stand. In which case, President Obama’s executive action on immigration, which protects more than 10 million undocumented immigrants in the United States from deportation and removal, will not stand and DACA and DAPA will not be implemented.

If you have questions about U.S. immigration policy, please contact Knoxville immigration attorney Patrick Slaughter at (865) 637-6258 to reserve a consultation time at the office of LaFevor & Slaughter.