Federal judge says DACA program is illegal, blocks new applications

A federal judge in Texas ruled in favor of blocking new applications to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program on Friday, stating that former President Barack Obama did not have the legal authority to offer protections to undocumented children brought to the U.S. from being deported.  

The ruling by U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas Judge Andrew Hanen, orders the Biden administration to stop approving applications immediately. But Hanen noted that current recipients will not be immediately impacted.  “To be clear, the order does not require [the Department of Homeland Security] or the Department of Justice to take any immigration, deportation or criminal action against any DACA recipient, applicant, or any other individual that it would not otherwise take,” he wrote in the ruling.