The U.S. government has grappled for nearly a decade over what to do with immigrants who arrived illegally as children with their parents, and that debate shows no signs of abating. Without legal status, these nearly two million young people who entered the country illegally in the last twenty-three years cannot be legally employed, obtain a drivers’ license, or access most government benefits.
In 2012 the Obama Administration established the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, which created a pathway for this cohort to legally work after completing high school.
The executive order proved to be contentious. After Donald Trump tried—and failed—to come up with a bipartisan plan to extend it, his administration then attempted to rescind it. In 2020 the Supreme Court rejected the rescission.
However, in July District Judge Andrew Hanen ruled that DACA is illegal and that the proper place of origination for this…
