Anxiously Awaiting the Supreme Court’s DAPA Decision

Immigration attorneys and undocumented immigrants across the country are anxiously awaiting the Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Texas, a landmark case implicating the President’s authority to grant discretionary immigration benefits, such as deferred action. The decision is expected sometime in June.

The case revolves around the President’s November 20, 2014 executive actions, which included deferred action for parents of United States citizens and permanent residents. The program, called Deferred Action for Parental Accountability, or DAPA, would extend employment authorization to certain people who are that can demonstrate long-time physical presence in the U.S. DAPA requires a person to not be disqualified for criminal reasons and demonstrate that they have a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident child. The case also challenges the government’s expansion of the DACA program, which is aimed at providing employment authorization and deferred action to people who came to the U.S. as children. Texas and 25 other states sued in federal court in Brownsville, Texas, and a federal judge there issued an injunction stopping the DAPA and expanded DACA programs. The case has made its way up to the United States Supreme Court on appeal, and a decision should be imminent.

Court watchers are also monitoring the situation closely as the Supreme Court’s size has shrunk to 8 justices, following the recent death of Justice Antonin Scalia. His replacement has not been confirmed by the United States Senate.

The Supreme Court is expected to issue decisions this month every Monday. The United States v. Texas decision would be one of those cases, although many observers believe it would be later in the month.