Court ruling striking down DACA fuels growing uncertainty for Dreamers

Deferred-action recipients continued contemplating their future in the country a day after a federal judge ruled that deportation protections granted to undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children were unlawful.

The ultimate decision on the fate of the program is likely to be decided by the Supreme Court.

The Wednesday ruling from U.S. District Judge Andrews Hanen in Houston did not come as a surprise to most observers.

Hanen previously struck down the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program as implemented by former President Barack Obama. This week, he sided with Texas and other Republican-led states in striking down a reinforced version of the DACA program implemented under President Joe Biden.

But the decision, while expected, still stung for some of the 578,000 active DACA recipients around the country, many of whom have established their lives and careers in the U.S. since DACA protections enable them to receive a work permit.

Hanen's ruling bars new applications, but allows active recipients to continue renewing their status. The Migration Policy Institute estimates that approximately 1.2 million undocumented residents are eligible to apply for DACA, if the new applications were allowed.

Nearly 22,000 active DACA recipients call Arizona home, the fourth largest DACA population in the U.S., according to the federal government. That includes Reyna Montoya, the founder and executive director for Aliento, a youth-based group advocating for families with mixed immigration status. Last year, she was recognized by Valley Leadership as the 73rd Woman of the Year for her advocacy in helping secure and pass Proposition 308, a ballot measure to grant in-state tuition to undocumented youth also known as Dreamers.

More: 'We still don't have a pathway to citizenship': Activists demand change on 10th anniversary of DACA

Montoya said has been receiving calls from DACA recipients and undocumented youth who are frozen out of the program after the judge's ruling came down. The decision continues to reinforce the uncertainty they feel.

"I think some of the people, even myself, I'm like, can we just like have a resolution at this point? We just want to know if it's going to end or not, because I think that the uncertainty is having real implications on people's lives, because then you just can't plan," she told The Arizona Republic.

The U.S. government is expected to appeal Hanen's ruling, which is expected to make its way to a conservative-leaning Supreme Court.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas acknowledged the uncertainty the ruling cast on DACA recipients and their families.

“This ruling does undermine the security and stability of more than half a million Dreamers who have contributed to our communities," he said in a statement. "The United States is the only home they have ever known. Congress has failed to act, and now Dreamers face an uncertain future, waiting to receive the permanent protection they deserve."

There is wide consensus, even among critics of the DACA program, that a permanent solution should come from Congress, although every effort to pass the DREAM Act has failed until now.

Erika Andiola, a longtime Phoenix-based activist and currently the communications director for the legal aid nonprofit Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, was among the first DACA recipients when the program took effect in 2012. "I know and work alongside young immigrants who have been blocked from applying to DACA and are unable to get work permits or support for school because of these legal attacks," she said of the lawsuit and court ruling. "DACA can and will never be enough as long as people in our families and communities are left out. This is the time for Congress to finally deliver permanent protections for all of us who know our home is here.”

Wednesday's decision has forced DACA recipients to begin considering what would happen to them should the Supreme Court strike down the program entirely, effectively removing deportation protection and employment authorization for the 578,000 active DACA recipients.

Montoya questioned what it would mean for DACA recipients such as herself to be undocumented, because they have been very public about their status and are unable to "go back into the shadows," she said.

"It's really bittersweet because Arizona and the U.S. is my home," Montoya said. "And at the same time, it's like we constantly have to be able to think about all these multiple scenarios like, OK, what can we do to ensure that Congress acts? And if they don't … can I endure, can I make a living continuously being undocumented? And if that's not the case, what are my other options? And for me going back to Mexico, It doesn't feel like an option because the reason why we migrated was because my my dad was kidnapped."

Nonetheless, Montoya said Aliento would continue their advocacy efforts at the statewide level. After securing in-state tuition for Dreamers, the group is shifting focus to access driver's licenses in Arizona for all residents regardless of status, as well as to eliminate barriers for obtaining occupational licenses.

Rebecca Shi, the executive director for the American Business Immigration Coalition, which played a key role in securing bipartisan support for passing Proposition 308 in November, made an economic case for keeping DACA protections in place.

“We are talking about people who, in the decade since DACA began, have graduated from college here, joined the labor force and the military, started families, enriched their communities and contributed more than $100 billion to the U.S. economy," she said in a written statement. "People should not have to live their lives and have their businesses held hostage to one court ruling after another."

The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, or MALDEF, joined the Department of Justice in defending DACA in court. The group's president and general counsel, Thomas Saenz, said Hanen's ruling did not adequately address the two questions at the center of Texas' lawsuit against DACA: whether the state has sufficient standing to sue and whether the program is a lawful use of a president's authority.

“We must all remain mindful that this lengthy lawsuit, and the precarious state of uncertainty in which it places DACA recipients, is largely the result of Congress indolently refusing to enact legislation — which has the overwhelming bipartisan support of the nation’s voters — to preserve the DACA recipients as permanent members and contributors in U.S. society,” Saenz said in a statement.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: New DACA ruling adds to growing uncertainty for Dreamers