HOUSTON – A rally was held outside a federal courthouse in Houston Thursday afternoon as a judge heard oral arguments on the legality of the 2022 DACA rule.
DACA, which stands for “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals,” is a program that grants temporary legal status to immigrants brought to the United States as children.
In 2021, Houston Judge Andrew Hanen ruled that the 2012 DACA memo was unlawful, which suspended new applications for DACA. However, current DACA recipients were allowed to renew.
In October of 2022, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals also ruled that the 2012 DACA memo was unlawful, though they allowed for renewals to continue, according to the release. The Fifth Circuit Court sent the case back down to Judge Hanen for his consideration of the new 2022 DACA rule.
As Judge Hanen hears those arguments, a group of DACA recipients and undocumented immigrants from across the country gathered at the courthouse and held a news conference to demand that the program remains in place.
The group also emphasized the need for Congress to legislate permanent solutions by passing the Registry Bill.
FIEL, an immigrant-led Civil Rights organization based in Houston, was present at the rally.
READ: Revised DACA program to be debated before Texas judge who previously ruled against it
“I along with the hopes and dreams of 600,000 DACA recipients will be present in Houston, TX on Thursday, Jun. 1, to listen to our lives being debated,” said Cesar Espinosa, Executive Director, FIEL. “We have been here before and will more than likely be here again until a permanent solution is presented to us. We are tired of going through this process, but we hope that this will remind the congress and the President that the immigrant community is still here waiting for reform. We don’t expect an immediate change to the program, but anything can happen.”