The seven-state coalition that filed a lawsuit against the federal government to stop the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program created by President Barack Obama is asking the judge to issue a nationwide preliminary injunction.
“Last September, President Trump agreed to phase out DACA by March 5 after Attorney General Paxton led a 10-state coalition requesting he do so or face a court challenge, officials with the Texas Attorney General’s Office wrote in a statement provided to Breitbart Texas. “But federal judges in California, New York and Washington, D.C., blocked the wind down, and the D.C. Circuit Court on April 24 gave the Trump administration 90 days to fully restore DACA.”
On Tuesday, Breitbart Texas reported that the States of Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Carolina, and West Virginia filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of Texas seeking to end what Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton called the “unconstitutional DACA program.”
“Our lawsuit is about the rule of law, not the wisdom of any particular immigration policy,” Attorney General Paxton said in a written statement on Tuesday. “Texas has argued for years that the federal executive branch lacks the power to unilaterally grant unlawfully present aliens lawful presence and work authorization. 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.”
On Wednesday, the states asked the court to issue a nationwide preliminary injunction to immediately stop the program.
“It’s a travesty of justice that three unelected federal judges are forcing the Trump administration to leave an unlawful program like DACA in place indefinitely,” Attorney General Paxton said on Wednesday. “Activist judges should not stand in the way of the president fulfilling his constitutional duty. Our coalition is confident it will prevail with its lawsuit to end DACA, but in the meantime, the federal government must be enjoined from issuing or renewing any DACA permits under this unlawful program.”
A Texas federal court struck down the similar Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA) program when it issued a temporary injunction against the program in February 2015, Breitbart Texas reported. In November 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled against President Obama and left the injunction in place.
“Once President Donald Trump took office, Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a legal opinion that the same reasons the federal courts struck down DAPA meant that the earlier DACA was also illegal,” Breitbart News’ legal editor Ken Klukowski wrote in February 2018.
“DAPA and DACA rest on the same flawed legal footing,” Attorney General Paxton said on Wednesday.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX, GAB, and Facebook.
Motion for Preliminary Injunction in DACA Lawsuit by Bob Price on Scribd
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