Grapevine

Fate of US ‘Dreamers’ before an appeals court, again

A United States federal appeals court is considering the fate of a programme that currently allows more than half a million undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children to live and work without fear of deportation.

The New Orleans-based Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit heard arguments on Thursday in the latest chapter of a years-long legal saga over the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy, or DACA, which was first introduced by former President Barack Obama in 2012.

At stake is the future of about 535,000 people who have long-established lives in the US, even though they do not hold citizenship or legal residency status and could eventually be deported.

DACA, which since its inception has shielded from deportation more than 800,000 ‘Dreamers’, as the programme’s recipients are known, has been life-changing for countless of them, with the first cohorts now in their 40s and having established families and careers in the US.

“I live here. I work here. I own a home here,” said Maria Rocha-Carrillo, who travelled from her home in New York to join some 200 demonstrators outside the court on Thursday, and was on the front row of a packed courtroom as the hearing started.