DAPA
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| DAPA | |
|---|---|
| Name | DAPA |
| Type | Administrative program |
| Established | 2014 |
| Jurisdiction | United States |
| Parent organization | United States Department of Homeland Security |
| Scope | Immigration relief |
| Status | Defunct (legal injunctions) |
DAPA Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents was a unilateral administrative program announced in 2014 intended to grant temporary reprieve from deportation and work authorization to certain undocumented parents of United States citizens and Lawful permanent residents in the United States. It was proposed amid national debates involving President Barack Obama, Congress of the United States, and federal courts, and intersected with policies from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services and legal challenges led by multiple state government actors.
Overview
DAPA aimed to allow qualifying individuals relief from removal proceedings and eligibility for employment authorization through an exercise of prosecutorial discretion administered by United States Department of Homeland Security components such as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Announced alongside an expansion of an existing program for younger immigrants implemented under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, it sought to affect millions of individuals who could demonstrate continuous presence and parentage relationships to United States citizens or Lawful permanent residents. The announcement prompted immediate action by state officials, advocacy groups including American Civil Liberties Union and National Immigration Law Center, and attracted attention from actors such as United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate.
History and Development
The initiative was unveiled in November 2014 by President Barack Obama as part of a broader executive action on immigration announced at a White House event. Its development followed earlier policy shifts including prosecutorial discretion memoranda from Secretary Jeh Johnson and administrative practices under Secretary Janet Napolitano. Opposition emerged rapidly, with a coalition of states led by Texas (state) filing suit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas alleging violations of the Administrative Procedure Act and constitutional limits on executive power. The district court issued a preliminary injunction; the case progressed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and reached the United States Supreme Court in a dispute involving United States v. Texas, where litigation was ultimately affected by a deadlocked 4–4 tie after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, leaving the lower-court injunction in place.
Mechanism and Functionality
DAPA was designed as a discretionary, non-legislative mechanism whereby U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services would grant deferred action — a form of temporary prosecutorial reprieve — and accompanying employment authorization documents to eligible applicants. Eligibility criteria proposed included parentage of a United States citizen or Lawful permanent resident, continuous presence since a specified date, biometric checks coordinated with Federal Bureau of Investigation databases, and background vetting for public-safety concerns involving entities like Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation. The program would have relied on existing administrative authorities exercised through memos similar to those issued by Secretary of Homeland Security and operating procedures used in Department of Homeland Security deferred-action determinations.
Applications and Use Cases
Had it been implemented, DAPA was expected to affect individuals in various sectors including healthcare staffing in hospitals such as Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic, service industries in metropolitan regions like Los Angeles and New York City, and agricultural labor in states like California (state) and Texas (state). Employers subject to Internal Revenue Service and labor regulations such as Department of Labor requirements could verify employment authorization through the Department of Homeland Security systems, including E-Verify. Advocacy organizations like United We Dream and humanitarian groups including Catholic Charities USA prepared outreach for potential applicants, while legal aid providers such as Catholic Legal Immigration Network planned assistance for application and vetting processes.
Legal and Policy Considerations
Legal debate centered on separation of powers, statutory interpretation of immigration laws like the Immigration and Nationality Act, and the scope of executive discretion under precedents such as Heckler v. Chaney. Plaintiffs argued that the program circumvented Congress of the United States by effectively altering admission and removal rules, invoking doctrines addressed in cases like Massachusetts v. EPA and statutory-review procedures under the Administrative Procedure Act. States cited costs tied to state-run services and sought injunctive relief through state attorneys general such as the attorney general of Texas (state). Policy analysts referenced empirical studies from institutions like Pew Research Center and Migration Policy Institute to estimate fiscal and labor-market impacts, while legislative actors in the United States House of Representatives proposed bills to constrain executive authority.
Criticisms and Controversies
Critics framed DAPA as executive overreach, raising constitutional claims allied with arguments from conservatives associated with entities like the Republican Party (United States), and legal challenges advanced by state coalitions including governors from Texas (state), Arizona (state), and Nebraska (state). Opponents highlighted enforcement and public-safety concerns involving coordination with law-enforcement agencies such as Federal Bureau of Investigation and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Latino advocacy organizations, immigrant-rights coalitions, and scholars including those from Harvard University and Stanford University contested both the legality and the humanitarian necessity of the measure, while business groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce supported administrative relief to stabilize labor supply. The judicial stalemate and political polarization around the program influenced subsequent executive actions, congressional debates, and the framing of immigration policy during the 2016 United States presidential election.