A federal appeals court on Friday ruled against an Obama-era policy that provides amnesty and a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants who entered the U.S. as children.

A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled unanimously that a new version of the policy issued by President Biden in 2022 overstepped the executive branch’s authority. The decision by two Republican-appointed judges and one Democratic-appointed judge is the latest blow to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in a string of legal challenges that has kept 500,000 so-called Dreamers waiting for a resolution for more than a decade.

The decision Friday does not immediately change the status quo. Program beneficiaries can still renew temporary permits to live and work in the United States without fear of deportation. But the federal government remains prohibited from issuing new applications.

However, Friday’s decision does create an opportunity for DACA to be appealed to the Supreme Court for a third time. And it comes just three days before President-elect Trump assumes office with his promise to begin mass deportations of illegal immigrants.

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In his first term, Trump attempted to end DACA, but he also made statements expressing his desire for Dreamers to be permitted to stay in the U.S.

Obama introduced DACA in 2012, citing inaction by Congress on legislation aimed at giving those brought to the U.S. as children a path to legal status. Legal battles followed, including two trips to the Supreme Court.

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Biden’s 2022 update to the policy did not change much substantively, but it was subject to public comment as part of a formal rule-making process intended to improve its chances of surviving in court.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paton, who led the challenge on behalf of Republican-led states, called Friday’s ruling “a major victory.” 

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“I look forward to working with President-elect Donald Trump to ensure that the rule of law is restored, and the illegal immigration crisis is finally stopped,” Paxton said.

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

In 2016, with one vacancy on the Supreme Court, the justices deadlocked 4-4 over an expanded DACA and a version of the program for parents of DACA recipients, keeping in place a lower court decision for the benefits to be blocked. In 2020, the high court ruled 5-4 that the Trump administration improperly ended DACA by failing to follow federal procedures, allowing it to stay in place.