Federal Court Order Prevents Further Approval of Initial DACA Requests

On July 16, 2021, a federal judge in Texas ruled that Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a program that allows certain immigrants to temporarily avoid deportation and receive renewable work permits, is illegal and ordered the Biden administration to stop granting new applications. The order does not affect current DACA recipients who have the two-year renewable work permits.

However, based on USCIS statistics the ruling will prevent the approval of at least 50,000 new DACA applicants nationwide who applied earlier this year that are pending, but were not approved before the ruling. While the order doesn’t affect current DACA recipients it does raise a lot of questions about their future. For now, USCIS will continue to grant or deny renewal DACA requests, according to existing policy.