The DACA hiring dance

As courts and the White House battle back and forth about the future of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, U.S. companies are increasingly skittish about hiring the program’s beneficiaries.

Nearly 700,000 immigrants who were brought to the country illegally as children have legal status and a valid renewable two-year work permit called an employment authorization document. The Trump administration rescinded DACA, a program instituted under President Barack Obama, in September of last year but continues to process renewal requests under orders from a federal court.

A federal judge last week ruled the Trump administration must reinstate the entire program, not just the renewals. U.S. District Judge John D. Bates stayed his decision until August 23 to give the administration time to appeal.

Meanwhile, employers who don’t want to hire DACA recipients—who could be deported if the Trump administration’s actions hold up in court—increasingly face legal action for discrimination. Since 2014, DACA workers have filed a handful of class-action suits against companies refusing to hire them because they do not have citizenship or green cards. Recipients, many of whom have graduated from college since the program was set up in 2012, struggle to find work as the legal battle over their final status plays out.

So far, federal judges in New York and Florida have ruled DACA recipients represent a protected class, even if temporarily protected. Human rights groups are watching the class-action lawsuits, which could protect immigrants and those who hire them. If DACA recipients win protection, it will bode well for others with restricted or temporary work status, including asylum seekers, refugees, and victims of human trafficking brought to the United States.

But a number of states say that the program was unconstitutional in the first place and creates a burden on states to provide for illegal immigrants. Lawyers for a seven-state coalition led by Texas appeared in federal court in Houston on Wednesday to ask a judge to halt DACA.

“DACA is unconstitutional because it rewrote federal law without congressional approval,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said. “Our lawsuit asks the court to prevent future illegal actions, restore the rule of law to our immigration system, and provide Congress with an opportunity to finally address the issue.”

If U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen in Houston rules against the program, it could create a conflict with other recent court decisions and draw the attention of the U.S. Supreme Court.