"A federal appeals court on Wednesday sided with a Texas-based federal judge who ruled the 2012 Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program was likely illegal. The three-judge panel did however leave the program in place for renewals and sent the case back to the lower court for further consideration. The program, commonly known as DACA, protects hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants from immediate deportation and allows them to legally work in the United States with renewable work permits. As of June 2022, there were more than 97,000 recipients of the program in Texas and more than 594,000 across the country, according to the Migration Policy Institute. The decision comes after Judge Andrew Hanen of Texas ruled last year that the program was implemented incorrectly after Texas and other-Republican states filed suit to halt the program. Hanen ruled then that DACA renewals could continue to be processed as the case played out on appeal but blocked new applications. After Wednesday’s decision, the case now goes back to Hanen who will review the legality of new rules the Biden administration issued in August, the Associated Press reported.

In their ruling the judges at the Fifth Circuit said the legal questions surrounding DACA are “serious, both to the parties and to the public.” But they also considered the long-standing effect the program has had on recipients and others. After the ruling, United We Dream, a national advocacy group for immigrant youth, implored Democrats in the U.S. Congress to address permanent relief for DACA recipients and other immigrants."

https://www.kut.org/politics/2022-10-05/federal-appeals-court-sends-daca-case-back-to-lower-court-to-review-new-program-guidelines