Appeals Court Ruling Puts DACA Program in Limbo

On Oct. 5, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a ruling in an extremely consequential lawsuit filed by several states challenging the legality of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program known as DACA. The court upheld the decision by the lower federal district court in Texas, which had found that the DACA program was unlawful because it violated the requirements of the Administrative Procedures Act (APA), but stayed its decision while the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appealed the lower court’s findings.