The Biden administration completed a response to the Texas federal judge overseeing the challenge to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. In that response, the administration claims that the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the student loan forgiveness program does not have any bearing on DACA.
The Supreme Court ruling on loan forgiveness found that the secretary of education lacked the authority to forgive student loan debt under the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003. The government’s stance is that there is no similar issue within the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) that decides the criteria for deferred action, which is directly related to DACA.
The plaintiffs challenging DACA argued that the Supreme Court’s ruling supports their position that the final DACA rule implemented by the Biden administration improperly modified congressional statutes. However, the Department of Justice points to the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, which, they argue, was intended to safeguard the executive branch’s discretion from judicial review.
The government maintains that DACA did not entail rewriting the INA. It established a policy for exercising enforcement discretion under the INA. They cite the U.S. v. Texas case, where the Supreme Court ruled that Texas and Louisiana lacked standing to challenge the administration’s immigration enforcement priorities.
DACA recipients involved in the case also contend that DACA, like the revived deportation guidelines, represents an exercise of enforcement discretion in the immigration context.
The U.S. District Judge conducted a hearing on June 1 but decided to postpone issuing a ruling to allow for further briefings on the impact of the Supreme Court decisions. The states have requested a two-year wind-down of the DACA program, while the administration is currently prohibited from accepting new applications. However, they can continue processing renewal applications.
At ILBSG, we actively monitor ongoing updates to immigration policy. If you have any questions about immigration-related issues, feel free to contact us for the right advice.