Texas and six other states are suing the Trump administration over its failure to terminate the Obama-era program that provides work permits to young undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children.
“Our lawsuit is about the rule of law, not the wisdom of any particular immigration policy,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) said in a statement. “Left intact, DACA sets a dangerous precedent by giving the executive branch sweeping authority to ignore the laws enacted by Congress and change our nation’s immigration laws to suit a president’s own policy preferences.”
Joining Texas in the lawsuit are the Republican attorneys general of Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Carolina and West Virginia. The lawsuit signals growing GOP frustration with President Trump’s struggles to advance his immigration policies and could lead to conflicting federal court decisions that would put the fates of 690,000 DREAMers in the hands of a deeply divided Supreme Court.
Paxton filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Brownsville yesterday and it asks the court to “declare DACA unlawful” and block the federal government from issuing any more work permits. Texas and other states had threatened legal action last year, which prompted the administration to announce in September that it would gradually end DACA starting March 5 of this year.
Defenders of the program challenged that decision in court, and federal judges in California, New York and most recently in D.C. have temporarily blocked the Trump administration from carrying out its plan.
While the California and New York rulings forced the Trump administration to continue renewing work permits for immigrants currently enrolled in the program, last week’s D.C. ruling, ordered the federal government to begin accepting new applications by late July, which would fully restore the program. However, the Department of Homeland Security has 90 days to provide more solid reasoning for ending the program.
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