WASHINGTON — Ashly Trejo Mejia is desperate to study medicine, but she’s not sure she can pursue that dream because an impending court decision could mean the end of the Obama-era program designed to provide ephemeral protection to immigrants like her who were brought to the country illegally as children.
“They are frozen in time,” she said.
The 23-year-old from Hyattsville, Maryland, was one of dozens of organizers and a handful of lawmakers outside the U.S. Capitol, calling on the government to provide permanent protections for the nearly 579,000 recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program before a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that could declare the program illegal.
It is a case that probably before the Supreme Court.
The Democratic lawmakers – Senator Alex Padilla of California, and Representatives Sylvia Garcia of Texas, Delia Ramirez of Illinois and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan – called on President Joe Biden to employ his executive powers to enact protections for beneficiaries of the Deferred Action Program, which then-President Barack Obama created 12 years ago this week.
The MPs suggested that the President grant parole or Postponed forced departure The status allows those affected to be exempt from deportation for a certain period of time.
“The Biden administration has promised to address this issue, and we must hold them to that promise,” Tlaib said.
Padilla acknowledged that because of the makeup of Congress — Republicans control the House of Representatives while Democrats have a narrow majority in the Senate — any action on the program, often referred to as DACA, must come from the White House.
“He has the executive authority to provide assistance to caregivers, Dreamers, DACA recipients and the spouses of undocumented U.S. citizens,” Padilla said.
DACA recipients are often referred to as “Dreamers,” based on a never-passed law called the Dream Act.
The White House did not respond to States Newsroom’s request for comment on any executive action related to DACA.
Legal challenge
A lawsuit filed by seven states is jeopardizing the program.
In the lawsuit, which Texas is leading along with Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Carolina and West Virginia, the states argue that DACA places an undue burden on the states and that the Obama administration did not follow proper procedures when implementing the program in 2012.
The Biden administration has implemented its own final rule on DACA, but Federal judge considered it unlawful in a September 2023 decision. The Biden administration has appealed to the 5th Circuit and is is waiting for his decision.
According to the Federal Court’s decision, the program will remain in place for people who are already insured but an interim injunction was set up to prevent future applicants, such as Reyna Valdivias Solorio, from applying.
Valdivias Solorio came to the United States at the age of one and recently graduated from Nevada State University.
“I have been undocumented my entire life,” she said. “The worst part is the emotional stress that comes from living in fear that one day my older siblings, my parents and I could be deported and separated from my younger siblings in this country we call home.”
There are approximately 94,500 pending applications for the DACA program. according to data from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services.
In addition, the immigration and research organization FWD.us Estimates There are 400,000 undocumented youth who do not meet the DACA eligibility requirements because they are too up-to-date to the United States.
There have been previous legal challenges to the program, including an attempt by President Donald Trump’s administration to repeal it in 2017.
The move was ultimately blocked by the Supreme Court in a June 2020 decision. The Supreme Court ordered U.S. immigration authorities to accept initial DACA applications. However, the Trump administration did not do so until December 2020.
Spouse
Americans with spouses without residency permits have expressed their frustration with the White House.
Speakers at Wednesday’s event urged executive action to provide relief to the more than 1.1 million Americans who fear their spouses could be deported.
Ramirez said her husband, who is a DACA recipient, first entered the program when he was 14, and many of the program participants are adults still waiting for a path to citizenship.
“I can call him my husband,” she said. “Unfortunately, this country labels him as an undocumented person.”
