The Department of Justice was back in court this month for a case that could decide the future of DACA.

The Obama-era program has given temporary protection and a work permit to some 800,000 undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as kids since being enacted in 2012.

But DACA’s been in legal limbo for years now. The Trump administration tried to cancel the program in 2017, and the Supreme Court saved it in 2020.

Months later, under the Biden administration, a lawsuit brought by a group of GOP-led states returned to court to argue the program was illegal and end it once again. An appeals court agreed last year, but sent the case back to Texas, where it began, so that a new, nearly-identical framework for the program laid out by the Biden administration could be considered. 

As Roll Call reports, in a filing this month, DOJ lawyers said DACA recipients have strong ties to the U.S., and many have never known another home. They argue that federal resources are limited within the Department of Homeland Security, and DACA recipients should not be prioritized for deportation.

There are currently more than 600,000 DACA recipients nationwide, including thousands in Arizona. Many court wrangling and other restrictions have kept many other young, undocumented immigrants out of the program.