The Obama administration created DACA by executive action on June 15, 2012, after Congress failed to pass the DREAM Act, first introduced in 2001. Applicants had to have arrived before age 16 and lived in the US continuously since June 2007. As of the end of 2025, about 495,000 people held active DACA, most of them born in Mexico.
DACA has been in court for years. In 2020, the Supreme Court blocked the first Trump administration's attempt to end it, ruling the process unlawful. In a separate case brought by Texas, a federal judge ruled DACA unlawful in 2021. Since then, USCIS has accepted but not processed new applications.
In January 2025, a federal appeals court found the program's work authorization unlawful but limited that ruling to Texas. As of mid-2026, the lower court had not yet implemented that decision, and current recipients nationwide could still renew.