Final DACA Regulations Near Release After Clearing White House

The Biden administration is close to issuing a formal rule to grant some 600,000 undocumented young people work authorization and protections from deportation.

Homeland Security Department regulations (RIN 1615-AC64) governing the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program cleared review at the White House Office of Management and Budget Aug. 19, the final step before their public release.

The Obama administration created DACA through an executive memo in 2012. The program has since faced continued political and legal challenges.

The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit heard oral arguments over the program in July. The Biden administration is appealing a Texas federal district court judge’s ruling last year that DACA was illegally implemented because the program didn’t go through the regulatory process.

A New York district court judge earlier this month rejected dreamers’ request to order the DHS to resume processing new DACA applications.