Immigrants brought to the US as children ask judges to keep protections against deportation

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Immigrants who built lives in the United States after being brought here illegally as children were among more than 200 demonstrators who gathered Thursday outside a federal courthouse in New Orleans, where three appellate judges heard arguments over the Biden administration's policy shielding them from deportation.

At stake in the long legal battle playing out at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is the future of about 535,000 people who have long-established lives in the U.S., even though they don't hold citizenship or legal residency status and they could eventually be deported. The case is likely to wind up at the Supreme Court.

“I live here. I work here. I own a home here,” said María Rocha-Carrillo, 37. She traveled from her home in New York to join the demonstration and was on the front row of a packed courtroom as the hearing started.

She said she was brought to the U.S. at age 3 when family members immigrated from Mexico, where she was born. She could not get a teaching certificate until the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program allowed her to build a career in education.

Opponents of DACA, chiefly Texas and eight other Republican-led states, have said in court arguments and legal briefs that hundreds of millions of dollars in health care, education and other costs fall on states when immigrants are allowed to remain in the country illegally.

A key element of the arguments before the appeals panel is whether lead plaintiff Texas has shown that it has standing to bring a lawsuit and whether a lower court judge in Texas had authority to issue a nationwide ruling.

DACA supporters argued that Texas hasn’t shown that the costs it cites are traceable to the policy and, thus, hasn't shown that it has standing. Judge Stephen Higginson, questioning Joseph Mazzara of the Texas Attorney General’s Office, noted that 22 states have said they benefit from the contributions of DACA recipients, who are known as “Dreamers."

“How could a single judge tell all 22 other states who are so grateful for these people that actually they’ve all got to leave the United States?” Higginson asked. “How does a single judge have that authority?”

However, Judge Jerry Smith said he was doubtful that Texas lacks legal standing,

“I don’t understand how you get anywhere with that argument,” Smith told Brian Boynton, who was arguing for the Biden administration.

An earlier 5th Circuit ruling fought held that Texas did have standing. Boynton said the Supreme Court has since raised the bar for states to prove standing, but Smith said the precedents Boynton cited don’t contain unequivocal language that would require the appeals court to back off its previous finding.

It was unclear when or how the panel — Smith, nominated to the 5th Circuit by former President Ronald Reagan; Edith Brown Clement, nominated by former President George W. Bush; and Higginson, nominated by former President Barack Obama — will rule. The case will almost certainly wind up at the Supreme Court.

Obama first put DACA in place in 2012, citing inaction by Congress on legislation aimed at giving those brought to the U.S. as youngsters a path to legal status and citizenship. Years of litigation followed. President Joe Biden renewed the program in hopes of winning court approval.

Last year, U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen in Houston said the executive branch had overstepped its authority. Hanen barred the government from approving new applications but left it intact during appeals for those who had already been approved for deferred status. Boynton asked the 5th Circuit judges to keep that policy while appeals continue if they rule against DACA.

Outside the court building Thursday, Wendy Reynoso, 24, said she was brought to the U.S. by her family from Guatemala when she was a toddler. She said her DACA application is in limbo while the litigation continues, leaving her unable to find work as a mechanical engineer after college.

“It hurts because even though I graduated with such a good degree, I’m not able to use it. So, I’m just stuck” she said.

Defenders of the policy argue that Congress has given the executive branch's Department of Homeland Security authority to set immigration policy.

The states that joined Texas in challenging DACA are Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Carolina, West Virginia, Kansas and Mississippi.

Among those states' allies in court briefs is the Immigration Reform Law Institute. “Congress has repeatedly refused to legalize DACA recipients, and no administration can take that step in its place," the group's executive director, Dale L. Wilcox, said in a statement this year.

This version has the correct spelling of DACA recipient María Rocha-Carrillo’s name. It had been incorrectly spelled in some earlier versions as Marea Rocha Carrillo.

Attorney Nina Perales, vice president of litigation for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, shakes hands with a DACA supporter outside federal appellate court in New Orleans following a hearing to decide the policy's future on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Jack Brook)

DACA-recipient María Rocha-Carrillo, 37, greets supporters outside federal appellate court in New Orleans on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Jack Brook)

DACA-recipient María Rocha-Carrillo, 37, arrives in federal appellate court in New Orleans on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024 to hear lawyers debate the future of the policy that has allowed her and hundreds of thousands of others to remain in the U.S. legally. (AP Photo/Jack Brook)

DACA supporter Claudia Valdivia wields a megaphone at a rally outside federal appeals court in New Orleans on Thursday, Oct. 10 ,2024. (AP Photo/Jack Brook)

Wendy Reynoso, 24, whose DACA application remains in limbo, wipes tears during a rally outside a federal appeals court in a hearing to decide the future of the policy, in New Orleans, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Jack Brook)

Nina Perales, vice president of litigation for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, speaks to DACA supporters after appearing in federal appeals court in New Orleans to defend the policy on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Jack Brook)

Wendy Reynoso, 24, whose DACA application remains in limbo, wipes away tears at a rally outside a federal appeals court in New Orleans on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, in a hearing to decide the future of the policy. (AP Photo/Jack Brook)

DACA supporters rally outside the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, following a hearing on the future of the policy granting hundreds of thousands temporary legal status to stay in the U.S. (AP Photo/Jack Brook)

FILE - Demonstrators hold up signs outside the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals building in New Orleans on July 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Kevin McGill, file)

FILE - Susana Lujano, left, joins other activists to rally in support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as DACA, at the Capitol in Washington, June 15, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — A May 5 trial date was set Thursday in Sean “Diddy” Combs'sex trafficking case, and a prosecutor argued that the jailed hip-hop mogul's lawyers were trying to exclude a “damning piece of evidence” by claiming it was leaked by the government.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Johnson struck back against the defense's claims during Combs' first appearance before Manhattan federal court Judge Arun Subramanian, who will preside over his trial. Combs' mother flew in from Florida for the proceeding, sitting behind him with his children and other family members in the courtroom gallery.

Johnson took issue with the defense lawyers' argument in a submission late Wednesday that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security leaked a video to the media of Combs punching and kicking his former protege and girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie, in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in 2016.

Combs' lawyers said the video, aired by CNN in May, and other alleged government leaks “have led to damaging, highly prejudicial pretrial publicity that can only taint the jury pool and deprive Mr. Combs of his right to a fair trial.”

But Johnson urged the judge to see through the defense claims, calling them “baseless and simply a means to try to exclude a damning piece of evidence” from the trial.

“Not a single one of those alleged leaks are from members of the prosecution team,” Johnson said.

Still, Subramanian told defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo to write a proposed order that he would sign instructing lawyers on both sides to comply with rules prohibiting them from publicly disclosing information that could taint a jury.

The prospective order would also restrict what both sides can publicly say about the case — something Johnson said was necessary after Agnifilo characterized Combs' indictment in a TMZ interview last month as a “takedown of a successful Black man.”

Combs, 54, has pleaded not guilty to racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges alleging he coerced and abused women for years with help from a network of associates and employees while silencing victims through blackmail and violence, including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings.

Johnson reasserted that the indictment could be updated to add charges or defendants.

Combs, wearing a beige jail jumpsuit, was more engaged and animated during Thursday’s hearing than he had been at two earlier court appearances. When he entered the courtroom, he gave a hearty hug to each of his lawyers and smiled as he spoke with them.

During the proceeding, he turned to attorney Anthony Ricco and whispered in his ear, as Johnson spoke about electronic materials seized from his residences and from him during his arrest.

Ricco said outside the courthouse afterward that Combs is making the best of a difficult situation.

“Dr. King called it the law of unintended consequences,” he said, referring to civil rights leader Martin Luther King. “Sometimes the more you push a person down, the stronger they get.”

Johnson said 96 electronic devices were seized in raids in March on Combs’ residences in Miami and Los Angeles and at an unspecified private airport in Florida. She said another four devices were seized when Combs was arrested last month.

She said eight devices seized in Miami contained over 90 terabytes of information, which she labeled as “extraordinary” as she explained delays in extracting some information for technological reasons.

The judge said Combs can return to court in December unless lawyers agree that hearing is unnecessary.

Much of the hearing featured arguments by lawyers about what is needed to protect an eventual jury from bias, highlighted by Johnson's claims about the hotel video.

After the video was broadcast, Combs posted a social media video apologizing, saying: “I was disgusted when I did it” and “I’m disgusted now.”

Responding Wednesday night in a court filing to defense claims that the federal government had leaked the video to CNN, prosecutors told the judge that the government was not in possession of the video before it was aired on CNN.

After the video aired, Combs apologized, saying, “I was disgusted when I did it.” His lawyers have described the episode as a lovers’ quarrel. In Combs' indictment, prosecutors allege he tried to bribe a hotel security staffer to stay mum about the video.

Combs’ lawyers have been trying unsuccessfully to get the Bad Boy Records founder freed on bail. He has been held at a federal jail in Brooklyn since his Sept. 16 arrest.

Two judges have concluded that Combs would be a danger to the community if he is released from the Metropolitan Detention Center, a facility that has been plagued by violence and dysfunction for years. At a bail hearing three weeks ago, a judge rejected a $50 million bail package, including home detention and electronic monitoring, after concluding that Combs was a threat to tamper with witnesses and obstruct a continuing investigation.

In the meantime, Agnifilo said: “We're making a go of the MDC. The MDC has been very responsive for us.”

In an appeal of the bail rulings to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, lawyers for Combs on Tuesday asked a panel of judges to reverse the bail findings, saying the proposed bail package “would plainly stop him from posing a danger to anyone or contacting any witnesses.”

They urged the appeals court to reject the findings of a lower-court judge who they said had “endorsed the government’s exaggerated rhetoric and ordered Mr. Combs detained.”

In this courtroom sketch, District Judge Arun Subramanian is shown on the bench at the hearing for Sean "Diddy" Combs, in Federal court, in New York, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

Gloria Allred exits Manhattan federal court, Thursday, Oct. 10 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Attorney Marc Agnifilo for hip-hop mogul Sean "Diddy Combs, speaks to the members of media as he exits Manhattan federal court, Thursday, Oct. 10 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Attorney for Sean "Diddy" Combs, Anthony Ricco, speaks to the members of media as he exits Manhattan federal court, Thursday, Oct. 10 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Janice Combs, right, King Combs, center, and D'Lila Combs and Jessie Combs, twin daughters of Sean "Diddy Combs, exit Manhattan federal court, Thursday, Oct. 10 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

In this courtroom sketch, Sean "Diddy" Combs defense attorney Marc Agnifilo, left, addresses the judge while Combs, seated second from right, in prison uniform, watches in Federal court, in New York, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. Combs' new defense attorney, Anthony Ricco is seated far right. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

In this courtroom sketch, Sean "Diddy" Combs, left, upon entering the courtroom hugs his attorney Anthony Ricco prior to the hearing in Federal court in New York, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

Attorney Marc Agnifilo, center, and Teny Geragos, right, for Sean "Diddy Combs, arrive at Manhattan federal court, Thursday, Oct. 10 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

King Combs, center, arrives at Manhattan federal court, Thursday, Oct. 10 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Justin Dior Combs arrives at Manhattan federal court, Thursday, Oct. 10 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

D'Lila Combs and Jessie Combs, center, twin daughters of Sean "Diddy Combs, arrive at Manhattan federal court, Thursday, Oct. 10 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Gloria Allred arrives at Manhattan federal court, Thursday, Oct. 10 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Attorney Marc Agnifilo, center, and Teny Geragos, right, for Sean "Diddy Combs, arrive at Manhattan federal court, Thursday, Oct. 10 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Attorney Marc Agnifilo, left, and Teny Geragos, right, for Sean "Diddy Combs, arrive at Manhattan federal court, Thursday, Oct. 10 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Janice Combs, right, mother of Sean "Diddy Combs, arrives at Manhattan federal court, Thursday, Oct. 10 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

King Combs, center, arrives at Manhattan federal court, Thursday, Oct. 10 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Janice Combs, right, mother of Sean "Diddy Combs, arrives at Manhattan federal court, Thursday, Oct. 10 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)