A US federal appeals court ruled against an Obama-era policy to shield immigrants who came to the country illegally as young children, only three days before Donald Trump takes office with pledges of mass deportations.
The unanimous decision by a panel of the Fifth US Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, two judges appointed by Republican presidents, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, and one by Democrat Barack Obama, is the latest blow for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programme, whose beneficiaries have lived in legal limbo for more than a decade.
It signals no immediate change for its more than 500,000 beneficiaries, who can renew temporary permits to live and work in the United States.
But the federal government cannot take new applications, leaving an ageing and thinning pool of recipients.
The decision may tee up the policy for a third visit to the Supreme Court.
Mr Trump sought to end DACA during his first term, but he also occasionally expressed wishes that beneficiaries be allowed to stay.
Legal battles followed, including two trips to the Supreme Court.
This latest case involves a new version of the rule issued by President Joe Biden in 2022.
It represented little substantive change from the 2012 memo that created DACA, but it was subject to public comment as part of a formal rule-making process intended to improve its chances of surviving legal muster.
US district judge Andrew Hanen in Houston said the executive branch had overstepped its authority and barred he government from approving new applications.
He left it intact for current beneficiaries while appeals played out in court.
Texas attorney general Ken Paxton, who led the challenge on behalf of Republican-led states, called Friday’s ruling “a major victory”.
“I look forward to working with President-elect Donald Trump to ensure that the rule of law is restored, and the illegal immigration crisis is finally stopped,” Mr Paxton said.
The US Homeland Security Department did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
In 2016, with one vacancy on the Supreme Court, the justices deadlocked 4-4 over an expanded DACA and a version of the programme for parents of DACA recipients, keeping in place a lower court decision for the benefits to be blocked.
In 2020, the high court ruled 5-4 that the Trump administration improperly ended DACA by failing to follow federal procedures, allowing it to stay in place.
