A federal judge in Texas denied a request from Texas and nine other states to block the continuation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, saying the states waited too long in bringing their lawsuit.
In his order Friday, U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen said the states “had delayed seeking this relief for years” and found stopping the DACA program “at this point in time was contrary to the best interests of the public.”
Hanen, however, said he agrees with the states that DACA “likely violates” federal law.
[Also read: Federal judge shuts down DOJ, DHS for a second time in DACA lawsuit]
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton praised Hanen’s ruling in a statement, saying he is “very confident” DACA will be blocked like the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans program.
“President Obama used DACA to rewrite federal law without congressional approval. Our lawsuit is vital to restoring the rule of law to our nation’s immigration system,” said Paxton. “The debate over DACA as policy is a question for lawmakers, and any solution must come from Congress, as the Constitution requires.”
Paxton and a coalition of states filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration in May challenging the legality of the DACA program, which protects immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children from the threat of deportation.
The states called for the court to stop the Department of Homeland Security from issuing or renewing DACA permits.
The lawsuit over DACA followed attempts by the Trump administration to rescind the Obama-era program, though those efforts were ultimately blocked by the courts.
Texas and the other nine states said they did not want the federal court to weigh in on any of the legal challenges to Trump’s rescission of DACA, but rather targeted the executive action by Obama that created the program.
