The future of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program remains in limbo with another court hearing set for October 10. Judges from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments on the case, initiated in 2018 by Texas and other Republican-led states seeking to end DACA. The program offers temporary protection from deportation and work permits to undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children who are often referred to as “Dreamers.” The case centers on whether DACA exceeds presidential authority, immigration advocates from the coalition “Home is Here” said during a recent conversation with reporters. “Our response to that is that presidential authority in the area of immigration, and particularly the discretion exercised by the executive branch, is very broad and certainly encompasses the type of program that DACA is, which is now a regulation,” Nina Perales, vice president of litigation at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said during the call. A central issue in the case is whether Texas and other states have the standing to sue. Texas and other Republican-led states have argued that DACA has harmed them financially because they are spending resources on education, health care and other services on undocumented immigrants who were allowed to remain in the country illegally. But Perales, who will be one of the attorneys arguing the case in October, said that “Texas cannot show any injury as a result of DACA” because recipients contribute to their communities and states by…Read more