By Ted Hesson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A federal appeals court on Wednesday sent a case over the legality of a program to protect immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children back to a lower court to consider new rules issued by the Biden administration, even as it sided with the lower court’s ruling against the program.
A panel of three judges from the conservative-leaning 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s ruling against the program, called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), but remanded the case in light of new regulation issued in August.
The decision is a mixed one for U.S. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, who said he wants a permanent pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients – often known as “Dreamers.”
The court allowed for the current 594,000 DACA enrollees to maintain their status, but continues to block new applications.
(Reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington and Mica Rosenberg; Writing by Tim Ahmann; Editing by Mark Porter and Rosalba O’Brien)
