In a ruling issued Friday afternoon, Judge Andrew Hanen of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas granted Texas’ motion for summary judgment and struck down the Obama Administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA), subject to a temporary stay. Judge Hanen also permanently enjoined the federal government from approving new DACA applications or granting DACA status to additional illegal aliens. Created in 2012, the DACA program improperly conferred lawful status upon, and granted benefits to, certain illegal aliens.
“The court clearly saw that this program is against the law through and through,” Attorney General Paxton said. “This lawsuit was about the rule of law – not the reasoning behind any immigration policy. The district court recognized that only Congress has the authority to write immigration laws, and the president is not free to disregard those duly-enacted laws as he sees fit.”
The court concluded that Texas had standing, DACA was subject to judicial review, the federal government failed to follow statutorily required procedures when issuing DACA, and DACA is substantively unlawful.
A copy of the court’s order is available here.
A copy of the court's order of permanent injunction is available here.