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Federal Judge Rules DACA Illegal; Immigrants Groups Urge Congress to Act on Immigration Reform

Hanen’s decision does not prevent existing DACA recipients from applying to renew their status, but it does prevent thousands of new applications from being able to apply moving forward.

Published

5 years ago

July 23, 2021

Isabelle Price

Political propaganda paper lying on the Westminster Bridge, London. Photo courtesy of Metin Ozer via Unsplash

A Texas federal judge ruled DACA illegal last week, partially suspending the crucial immigration program and halting all new applicants to it. President Biden called the decision “very disappointing” and said the Department of Justice would appeal it, while immigrants’ rights groups urged Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform.

The ruling is the latest and perhaps most devastating development in the legal saga that has surrounded the program since former President Obama introduced it in 2012 after years of failed attempts at immigration reform. The program, which stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, covers undocumented immigrants who were brought to the US by their parents as children, granting them temporary protection from deportation and allowing them to work. At least 650,000 people, known as Dreamers, are protected by the program, including about 200,000 in California, the largest number for any single state.

But conservatives have fought the program with legal challenges since its inception. No new DACA applicants were accepted for nearly three years under former President Donald Trump. Last summer, the Supreme Court blocked Trump from ending the program, calling his move to stop it “arbitrary and capricious.” The court did not rule on the legality of the program in general, however. Now, Texas judge Andrew Hanen has ruled that Obama overstepped his authority as president when he implemented the program, siding with Republican attorneys general who made that argument in their legal challenge. Hanen, a Republican appointee to the federal bench, was widely expected to rule against DACA.

Hanen’s decision does not prevent existing DACA recipients from applying to renew their status, but it does prevent thousands of new applications from being able to apply moving forward.

Immigrants’ rights groups reacted to the ruling, slamming Hanen’s decision and calling on Congress and the Biden administration to finally pass comprehensive immigration reform. “This decision will spread fear and confusion throughout our workforce and our community, a community that has already been devastated by the impact of COVID-19, xenophobia, and the decision-making paralysis in Congress,” Texas-based group RAICES said in a statement. “Judge Hanen’s rash decision reiterates the immediate need for Congress and the Biden administration to keep their promise and create a pathway to citizenship for all undocumented people in the United States.”

“Today’s ruling is evidence that DACA is not enough,” Greisa Martinez Rosas, executive director of United We Dream, said in another statement. “The program has always been temporary, leaving hundreds of thousands of lives vulnerable to the next attack…. The only thing that can protect all immigrant youth, TPS holders, farm workers and other essential workers, is a path to citizenship through reconciliation. Until President Biden and Democrats in Congress deliver on citizenship, the lives of millions of undocumented people remain on the line. Democrats must pass a pathway to citizenship this year, no excuses!”

Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin, one of the original sponsors of legislation to protect Dreamers, suggested that Democrats may now attempt to pass immigration reform on their own, without the support of Republicans.

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#NNPA BlackPress

Poll Shows Support for Policies That Help Families Afford Child Care

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — New national polling shows persistent voter concern about the affordability and availability of child care for working parents, alongside broad support across key demographic groups for federal child care policies that help families afford care.

Published

2 days ago

March 2, 2026

Oakland Post

By First Five Years Fund

New national polling shows persistent voter concern about the affordability and availability of child care for working parents, alongside broad support across key demographic groups for federal child care policies that help families afford care.

The national survey was conducted by UpOne Insight on behalf of the First Five Years Fund from January 13–18, 2026.

Key findings include:

• Parents need help: 80% of voters say the ability of working parents to find and afford child care is either in a state of crisis or a major problem.

• This is an affordability issue: 82% believe federal child care funding will help lower costs for working families — including 69% of Republicans, 84% of Independents, and 94% of Democrats.

• And there continues to be strong support (62%) for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), a federal program that makes it possible for hundreds of thousands of families to afford safe, quality care for their children while parents work or go to school, including a majority of Republicans, 63% of Independents and 72% of Democrats.

• Support for funding child care programs remains strong: 75% believe child care funding should be increased or kept at current levels — including 75% of Republicans, 85% of Independents, and 97% of Democrats.

• 74% say funding for child care is an important and good use of tax dollars, including a majority of Republicans, three-quarters of Independents, and nine in ten Democrats.

FFYF Executive Director Sarah Rittling said, “Voters across the country are sending a clear message: federal child care and early learning programs work. These investments help parents stay in the workforce, strengthen families, and support healthy child development. They have also long had strong bipartisan support in Congress. At a time when affordability is top of mind for families, continued federal funding is essential to ensure child care remains accessible and within reach.”

First Five Years Fund works to protect, prioritize, and build bipartisan support for quality child care and early learning programs at the federal level. Reliable, affordable, and high-quality early learning and child care can be transformative, not only enhancing a child’s prospects for a brighter future but also bolstering working parents and fostering economic stability nationwide.

We work with Congress and the Administration to identify federal solutions that work for families with young children, as well as states and communities. We work with policymakers to identify ways to increase access to affordable, high-quality child care and early learning programs for children. And we collaborate with advocacy groups to help align best practices with the best possible policies. http://www.ffyf.org

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Oakland Post: Week of February 25 – March 3, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – February 25 – March 3, 2026

Published

3 days ago

March 1, 2026

Oakland Post

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Trump’s MAGA Allies are Creating Executive Order Plan to Steal the 2026 Midterms

NNPA NEWSWIRE — The document that could lead to an executive order proposes using the claim that China interfered with the 2020 elections as grounds to “declare a national emergency.” The move would be an unprecedented step that would grant Trump new authority over the voting systems in the U.S.

Published

5 days ago

February 27, 2026

Oakland Post

By Lauren Victoria Burke, NNPA Newswire Correspondent

A group of MAGA pro-Trump activists, who say they are working in coordination with the White House, are circulating a 17-page draft executive order that would claim without evidence that China interfered with the 2020 presidential election. Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential to President Joe Biden by over 7 million votes. Since Trump lost to Biden in 2020, he has repeatedly claimed that the election was “stolen” without evidence. The report of a group of “Trump allies” preparing an executive order to give Trump power over elections was first reported by The Washington Post.

The lies around the right-wing campaign that pushed falsehoods that the 2020 election was stolen was trafficked through right-wing media, particularly Fox News. Fox News was then sued for defamation for the claims by Dominion Voting Systems. Fox lost the case and had to settle for the largest defamation amount on record of $787.5 million in April 2023.

The document that could lead to an executive order proposes using the claim that China interfered with the 2020 elections as grounds to “declare a national emergency.” The move would be an unprecedented step that would grant Trump new authority over the voting systems in the U.S.

The story in The Washington Post arrives as Trump increasingly signals that he may take actions that would alter the result of the 2026 midterms. The Republicans are widely expected to lose as their approval ratings plummet as a result of a failing economy under Trump. Over 50 members of Congress have announced they will retire this year and not return in 2027.

The Trump Department of Justice, which now has a large image of Trump on the side of it, “sued five new states Thursday [Feb. 26, 2026] demanding access to their unredacted voter rolls — escalating a campaign that has been rejected by multiple federal courts and faces resistance from Republican-led states as well,” according to Democracy Docket, a group that works to protect voting rights.

Trump claimed back in late 2020, the last year of his first term, that he had the authority to issue an executive order related to mail-in voting for the 2020 elections — which he would then lose. But the Constitution states that control of elections lies with the states. As the GOP works to place hurdles in front of voting, Democrats worked to make voting easier.

In March 2021, President Biden signed an executive order calling on federal agencies to expand voting access as part of the Biden Administration’s effort “to promote and defend the right to vote for all Americans who are legally entitled to participate in elections.”

Trump’s focus is clearly on altering the November 2026 midterm elections. Trump’s polling numbers and the elections and special elections that have taken place around the U.S. over the last year clearly indicate that Republicans are about to be hit by a blue wave of Democratic victories.

Lauren Victoria Burke is an independent investigative journalist and the founder of Black Virginia News. She is a political analyst who appears on #RolandMartinUnfiltered and hosts the show LAUREN LIVE on YouTube @LaurenVictoriaBurke. She can be contacted at LBurke007@gmail.com and on twitter at @LVBurke