Lawmakers Weigh Dreamer Protections With DACA in Legal Limbo

Lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee are turning their focus to the status of undocumented young people as the program that’s protected more than half a million Dreamers for nearly 12 years faces an uncertain future.

New applications to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which was established in 2012 via executive memorandum, have been frozen for the past three years after a federal district court judge in Texas foundthat it was unlawfully implemented.

The program covered about 530,000 active recipients at the end of 2023, about 80% of them born in Mexico, according to the most recent data from the Department of Homeland Security.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the chair of the Judiciary Committee, said in remarks on the Senate floor ahead of Wednesday’s hearing that, as a result, thousands of undocumented young people “ready to serve our country as doctors, teachers, or first responders may never have that opportunity.”

“It’s time for Congress to grant them the stability and certainty in their lives they deserve,” Durbin said last week.

Durbin and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), the committee’s ranking member, last year co-sponsored the Dream Act, which would offer a pathway to permanent status for undocumented people who came to the US as children. But legislation offering relief to immigrants has been ensnared in political fights over border security and enforcement.

The legal battle over DACA has landed back at the the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which ruled just a year and a half ago that the program was unlawful because it violated the procedural requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act. The court now will mull whether DACA regulations issued by the Biden administration fortify the program’s legal standing.

Republican states suing to overturn the program argue it still exceeds the executive branch’s statutory authority.

The growing legal uncertainty over the program, plus the the looming presidential election, add to urgency for Congress to pass permanent protections for Dreamers, proponents say.

Employers including IBM Corp., Starbucks Corp., and Google LLC, warned the appeals court in February that rescinding DACA’s removal protections and employment authorization would drain $460 billion from the gross domestic product.

DACA survived a repeal effort by the Trump administration, but faced renewed legal challenges under the Biden administration.

Meanwhile, new Department of Health and Human Services regulations make DACA recipients eligible later this year for subsidized coverage under the Affordable Care Act.