Texas v. United States
The case involves a challenge by eight states and two governors against the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, arguing its illegality under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and the Take Care Clause of the Constitution. The plaintiffs sought a preliminary injunction to halt DACA, asserting it imposes significant costs related to healthcare, education, and law enforcement, and distorts the labor market by granting work authorizations to otherwise unauthorized aliens. The court, presided over by Judge Andrew S. Hanen, found that the plaintiffs demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits for their substantive and procedural APA claims, concluding that DACA exceeds statutory authority and was implemented without proper notice-and-comment procedures. However, the court denied the preliminary injunction due to the plaintiffs' six-year delay in challenging DACA, which had become an entrenched program, and the significant hardship an immediate injunction would cause to DACA recipients and the public interest. The court emphasized that while DACA's legality is questionable and Congress should address it, judicial intervention to halt an entrenched program at this stage, after such a delay, would disrupt the status quo and cause greater harm.