September 20, 2023

The Fate of the “Dreamers” Is Likely Headed to the Right-Dominated Supreme Court

If the Supreme Court agrees with the new decision by a Texas federal judge, it will be devastating to 600,000 Dreamers.

Eleven years after Barack Obama launched the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, six years after the Trump administration tried to rescind it, and five years after it began wending its way through the courts, the fate of the “Dreamers” is now likely headed to the Supreme Court.

On September 13, Judge Andrew Hanen of the Federal District Court in Houston ruled in Texas v. U.S. that Obama did not have the legal authority to create DACA, a program which has protected hundreds of thousands of undocumented youth from deportation. Although this is bad news for the Dreamers (undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children and grew up studying at U.S. schools), Hanen didn’t order that DACA immediately be terminated. Those who have already applied can keep their status and renew it but new applications will not be accepted. Hanen’s ruling will invariably be appealed.

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books by marjorie cohn
Drones and Targeted Killing The United States and Torture Rules of Disengagement Cowboy Republic: 6 Ways the Bush Gang Defied the Law Cameras in the Courtroom

about marjorie cohn

Marjorie Cohn is professor emerita at Thomas Jefferson School of Law where she taught for 25 years. The former president of the National Lawyers Guild and criminal defense attorney is a legal scholar and political analyst who writes books and articles, and lectures throughout the world about human rights, US foreign policy, and the contradiction between the two. She has testified before Congress and debated the legality of the war in Afghanistan at the prestigious Oxford Union. Her columns appear on Truthout, HuffPost, Salon, Jurist, Truthdig, Portside, CommonDreams and Consortium News, and she has provided commentary for CBS News, BBC, MSNBC, CNN, Fox News, NPR and Pacifica Radio. Learn more about Marjorie >>

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