Milwaukee DACA residents react to court's federal appeal ruling
WISCONSIN (CBS 58) -- On Wednesday, Oct. 5, a Federal Appeal Court upheld a district court ruling. The court found the "Obama-era" DACA program to be unlawful.
The lawsuit says the Obama administration did not have the legal authority to create the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy.
The case is now being sent down to the lower courts to decide the legality of the ruling.
This move is not shocking for many in the Latino community.
"While disappointed, yesterday's decision by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals wasn’t entirely unexpected," said Darryl Morin, National President of Forward Latino's, a non-partisan Latino advocacy group in Franklin.
Morin said this decision was spearheaded by a conservative court.
Texas judge Andrew Hanen ruled the way the DACA policy was presented back in 2012 was unlawful.
Hanen said, "This lawsuit was about the rule of law, not the reasoning behind any immigration policy."
The 2012 policy was revised by the Biden administration with hopes of solidifying its standing.
"They've gone through the entire formal federal rule making process, accepting comments and contributions to it etc., that requirement has now been checked for the rule making process," said Morin.
This most recent ruling will not affect those currently using DACA to stay here, but any new applications will be blocked.
"If this program goes away what happens to their homes? What happens to their families? What happens to their kids that were born here," said DACA recipient Carlos Vasquez.
Vasquez has called America his home for the past 21 years. He was brought here at the age of five. He says the ongoing legal drama surrounding DACA is exhausting.
"Every year something new comes up and someone doesn't like the program, or someone wants to remove it. It's not healthy for us, people who have DACA it's stressful," said Vasquez.
If you are a current DACA recipient and you still have your lawful temporary residency, people can still renew their applications if they are current DACA recipients.