A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy, or DACA, is a violation of U.S. immigration law but allowed the program’s protections to remain in place for the roughly 600,000 young immigrants enrolled, at least for now. The decision is considered a blow to the Obama-era program created in 2012 that helped recipients, often described as “Dreamers,” to obtain work permits and find protections against deportation.
The group is made up of immigrants without documentation who were brought to the United States as children, many of whom are now adults. At least 16,000 “Dreamers” live in New Jersey, according to the state attorney general’s office. Wednesday’s ruling won’t affect those currently in the program but will continue to block new applications, making the policy’s future uncertain. The Biden administration is vowing to defend DACA as a lawful program.
