Future uncertain for DACA recipients in Texas as courts reconsider program
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) — The future of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals is still up in the air after a federal appeals court ordered a lower court to take another look at the program.
The more than 100,000 young people in Texas who are currently in the program will be able to keep their temporary protection for now.
"You keep waiting, as we've been doing for almost a decade now," said Emma Chalott Barron, who has been in DACA since it was first created in 2012.
The program is meant to provide temporary protection to undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children.
"I came to this country when I was seven years old, in 2003," Barron said. "Almost 20 years later, I'm now in my last year of law school, and this is really where I consider my home. I grew up in Oak Cliff."
DACA isn't a legal status, but it's given Barron and more than 600,000 young people nationwide an opportunity to get degrees or start careers without fear of deportation.
"It's definitely given me some form of peace of mind, but also a lot of stress and anxiety," said Barron. "Knowing that it is subject to court decisions and presidential action and administrative action. Knowing that it's not set in stone."
On Wednesday, a federal appeals court ruling sent the case back down to a trial court in Texas.
"So the issue remains open," said Nina Perales, vice president of litigation for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. "DACA remains in the courts. There's a great deal of uncertainty for young people who have DACA."
DACA has faced numerous court challenges in the past decade.
"The court's decisions, whether it's down in the trial court or yesterday in the court of appeals, are expressing that this is a congressional responsibility to fix this part of the immigration system that's broken," Perales said.
Until Congress does, DACA recipients like Barron will have to keep living in limbo.
"It's convenient to tell us, we're going to work on something, we're going to get something done," she said. "But then there's no action, there's no follow through. Congressional action is really what DACA recipients deserve at this point."
DACA grants last two years. Young people in the program now can keep renewing their status.
This ruling continues to block any new applications.