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Offices in Dallas (Main Office) & Houston, Texas

The Fifth Circuit Update

When the going gets tough, the tough get going is probably most apt to say for the preliminary injunction in Texas V United States. In May, a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit rejected the Obama Administration’s request to lift the temporary hold of two executive actions – DACA and DAPA- that could defer the deportation of estimated 4.4 million people. DACA or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals gives people brought here illegally as children, protection from deportation and permission to work. DAPA or Deferred Action for Parents of Americans is a similar program for unauthorized-immigrant parents. These programs aim to protect young immigrants and their families from the threat of deportation and ability to work legally. This could also benefit Department of Homeland Security to divert attention on more serious criminal threats.

The Fifth Circuit denied putting on hold Hanen’s Injunction handed down in February this year. The Courts primarily held that the administration failed to follow Administrative Procedures Act, which sets the typical procedure for making federal regulations and hence violated the law. But the dissenting opinion stated that the executive actions are non-justiciable as they are internal executive enforcement guidelines. So long as the President does not grant legal status to people, he can grant deferred action through DACA and DAPA.

The decision is considered a major setback to President Obama’s legacy agenda to expand programs offering quasi-legal status to illegal immigrants. But millions of people are hopeful that his legal team will keep moving forward and can bring ultimate win in the history of Immigration Law.