The original 2012 DACA program remains in effect. This means that people who are eligible for the DAPA and expanded DACA initiatives should continue to prepare to apply for these initiatives, but should not yet file any applications. The nationwide injunction against implementing the DAPA and expanded DACA initiatives remains in place while the Fifth Circuit decides the federal government’s appeal. Legal scholars, state and local officials, and countless others have explained why DAPA and DACA will make all our communities stronger, and each day that implementation is delayed hurts all of us, native-born and immigrant alike. This delay will continue to have devastating consequences on our communities and economy. (For more information about potential next steps the government could take, see NILC’s “ likely scenarios” fact sheet.)
It is not the Fifth Circuit’s final ruling on whether the district court was correct in granting the preliminary injunction and blocking the immigration actions nationwide.
This decision applies only to the request for an emergency stay while the federal government’s appeal of the district court’s decision moves forward. When implemented, DAPA and expanded DACA will allow millions of immigrants to come forward and apply for work authorization and protection from deportation. The circuit court’s decision leaves in place, for now, the February nationwide injunction of the two major immigration actions announced by President Obama last November. On May 26, 2015, a divided panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the federal government’s request for an emergency stay of the Texas federal district court’s decision (or preliminary injunction) that blocked DAPA (Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents) and “expanded” DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) from being implemented. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Decision on the Emergency Stay Pending Appeal