5th Circuit Fed Appeals Court Upholds Delay Of Obama’s DAPA Immigration program

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A federal appeals court ruled against President Barack Obama’s DAPA immigration program, stating the negative economic impact on Texas is a valid claim.

This decision comes nearly a year after Obama announced it as a follow up measure to DACA and Congress’ failure to enact comprehensive immigration reform. Read the decision HERE

 The ruling sets back the Deferred Action for Parental Accountability program, known as DAPA. Obama has vowed to take it to the Supreme Court.

In the decision the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit agreed with a lower court judge that Texas had standing to challenge the executive action. The appeals court accepted Texas’ argument that expanding immigration relief to include a wider class of undocumented immigrants would cause the state to “incur significant costs in issuing driver’s licenses to DAPA beneficiaries” — satisfying the basic “harm” requirement for litigants seeking standing to sue.

 “If permitted to go into effect, DAPA would enable at least 500,000 illegal aliens in Texas to satisfy that requirement with proof of lawful presence or employment authorization,” wrote U.S. Circuit Judge Jerry Smith for the 2-to-1 appeals court. “Texas subsidizes its licenses and would lose a minimum of $130.89 on each one it issued to a DAPA beneficiary. Even a modest estimate would put the loss at several million dollars.”