DACA program ended in Texas after appeals court ruling zaps it

President Barack Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program has been tied up in various courts for years, and a bombshell decision regarding the program's status in one state presumably has the former Obama administration furious.

According to JustTheNews, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday upheld a lower court's ruling determining that the DACA program is unconstitutional.

The ruling places the DACA program in jeopardy, according to the outlet.

The appeals court ruling was in response to a ruling in September of 2023 determining that the Biden administration would not be able to codify the program.

Just the News noted:

U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Hanen in September of 2023 ruled that the Biden administration could not codify the program as a memorandum and that efforts to do so violated immigration law, according to The Hill.

Notably, the appeals court ruling only upheld the lower court's ruling in the state of Texas, which means the program is now ended in the state.

🚨Breaking: Texas scores victory against “DACA” in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit with the Court ruling the Obama era program UNLAWFUL.

The Fifth Circuit concluded that Texas succeeded on the merits and remanded the case to the district court for further… pic.twitter.com/BCvkOIUrM8

— Joseph Trimmer (@JosephTrimmer_) January 18, 2025

Just the News further noted:

The court ruled that Texas was the only state to demonstrate “sufficient evidence that DACA has caused the harms it alleges and that those costs would be partially alleviated if DACA were enjoined."

Attorneys for the Lone Star state argued that "DACA recipients impose over $750 million in annual costs on the state, those costs are traceable to and exacerbated by the Final Rule, and a favorable judgment against DACA would at least partially alleviate Texas’s harm."

The appeals court ruled that the government will no longer be able to accept DACA applications in the wake of the ruling that, for now, only affects the state of Texas.

Making matters worse for the originators of the program in the Obama administration and also the Biden administration is the fact that President-elect Donald Trump will soon be taking office.

That means the Biden administration will not have the opportunity to pursue legal actions to fight the appeals court ruling.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton released a statement regarding the court ruling, celebrating the victory.

"VICTORY: Today, we secured a major victory in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which affirmed a district court’s ruling that the Biden Administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (“DACA”) policy is unlawful," Paxton wrote.

He added, "This is a win for Texas. I am pleased the Fifth Circuit found that the Biden Administration’s DACA policy was unlawful. I look forward to working with President-elect Donald Trump to ensure that the rule of law is restored, and the illegal immigration crisis is finally stopped. Biden’s policies unleashed historic levels of lawlessness upon this country, and it is time to start fixing the mess the outgoing administration made."