Seven States, Led by Texas, Sue to End DACA Program
In the face of numerous injunctions barring the rescission of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy, Texas and six other states sued the U.S. government yesterday in an attempt to end DACA. Here are details from the New York Times.
The complaint in the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Texas, is joined by Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Carolina and West Virginia. It alleges that the Obama administration overstepped its authority when it created DACA, which allows individuals who were brought to the United States unlawfully as children to remain in the country.
“The executive unilaterally conferred lawful presence and work authorization on otherwise unlawfully present aliens, and then the executive used that lawful-presence ‘dispensation’ to unilaterally confer United States citizenship,” the lawsuit says. It seeks to “immediately rescind and cancel all DACA permits currently in existence because they are unlawful,” or at a minimum to block the government “from issuing or renewing DACA permits in the future, effectively phasing out the program within two years.”
KJ