It’s been more than two months since news broke that, after years of litigation, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program could reopen to new applicants for the first time since 2021, pending court approval.
But there is no set timeframe for DACA’s reopening. The final decision rests with a federal district court judge in Texas, who has for years held the program unlawful. In the meantime, while existing DACA recipients can renew their status, new applicants must continue to wait.
Following a January ruling by the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) filed a plan to process new DACA applications in all states except Texas, where the court ruling limits recipients’ benefits.
If the judge approves this plan, USCIS is expected to resume processing DACA applications filed before and after the injunction for applicants outside Texas. Applicants living in Texas may be granted deferred action, a form of prosecutorial discretion that postpones deportation for a specific period, but would not be able to obtain “lawful presence” or work authorization in Texas.
Applicants in other states would be eligible for full DACA benefits, provided the judge green-lights the plan.
“New applications will be processed and adjudicated,” said Thomas A. Saenz, president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), which has been representing DACA recipients in the case. “But the federal government has insisted that it needs an order from the federal court, and that’s what we’re waiting for the judge to issue.”
A lengthy court battle
Begun in 2012 by the Obama administration, DACA protects over 500,000 people without legal immigration status who were brought to the United States as children.
DACA is not a pathway to citizenship or a green card. Still, it offers temporary protection from deportation and allows eligible individuals to obtain work permits to work in the U.S. on a two-year, renewable basis.
In 2017, the Trump administration attempted to rescind DACA. The resulting court battle wound up in the Supreme Court, which ruled in 2020 that President Trump acted in an “arbitrary and capricious” manner in ending DACA, which violated the Administrative Procedure Act.
But in 2018, a Texas-led lawsuit challenged the DACA program’s legality, arguing that the executive branch exceeded its authority in creating it. In 2021, Federal District Court Judge Andrew S. Hanen in the Southern District of Texas held that the original DACA memorandum was unlawful, blocking new DACA approvals but allowing renewals for existing recipients.
The case was appealed and continues in litigation. Last January, the Fifth Circuit agreed with the lower court’s view that DACA is unlawful, but said that, for now, it would apply only restrictions to DACA recipients in Texas, where the lawsuit was filed.
Under the current legal framework, DACA has remained closed to new applicants nationwide since 2021, with the government not processing any first-time requests while litigation continues.
According to the agency, “USCIS will continue to accept and process DACA renewal requests and accompanying applications for employment authorization.” USCIS is also accepting applications for initial requests, but will not process them at this time.
What’s next
What happens next regarding DACA potentially reopening is at the discretion of Judge Hanen, who may rule at any time. The case is now in the implementation phase, where the judge must decide how DACA will function, who can access it and what benefits they receive.
“We are waiting for the district court, which will probably seek further briefings and argument on implementation, to decide how to allow new applications for DACA to be processed,” Saenz said.
The court will also need to figure out how to wind down work authorization for Texas DACA recipients, Saenz said.
Amid this uncertainty, Saenz explained that MALDEF is pushing for protections that lessen the impact on Texas DACA recipients, who, unlike others around the country, stand to lose their livelihoods. He anticipates many DACA recipients in Texas moving to other states to regain their work authorization.
Even if the judge does accept the plan to reopen DACA to new applicants, the future of the program remains uncertain as the case is litigated.
Meanwhile, as the Trump administration’s immigration crackdowns continue, a bipartisan team of Senate lawmakers has unveiled a new bill that would give young undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children a path to legal status. It’s being called the Dream Act of 2025 – named after a series of bills that paved the way for DACA years ago.