Federal judge in Texas rules DACA illegal

A federal judge in Texas ruled Friday that Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, an Obama-era initiative that shields certain undocumented immigrants from deportation, is illegal and is blocking new applicants.

U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Texas Andrew S. Hanen, whom George H.W. Bush appointed in 1992, sided with Texas in the ruling. He argued former President Obama overstepped his executive authority when he created the DACA program in 2012, according to The Washington Post.

Hanen called DACA an "illegally implemented program" and argued that “the public interest of the nation is always served by the cessation of a program that was created in violation of law and whose existence violates the law.”

The ruling bars future applicants but does not cancel current permits. Since DACA's creation, more than 600,000 undocumented minors have relied on the program.