States sue US govt over DACA

NEW YORK: Fifteen states and the District of Columbia sued the US government to block President Donald Trump’s plan to end protection against deportation for young immigrants, saying it was motivated by prejudice against Mexicans.

Legal experts, however, say the evidence of bias is not strong in the case involving the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programme, or DACA.

“It might be able to muck up the works, maybe push off the effective date of the repeal, but I don’t see litigation being successful in the same way as the travel ban,” said Kari Hong, an immigration expert at Boston College Law School, referring to the lawsuit earlier this year that limited the Trump ban involving predominantly Muslim nations.

As indications of Trump’s bias, the suit cited his previous statement referring to some Mexican immigrants as rapists and his decision to pardon former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was convicted of contempt for ignoring a federal court order to stop traffic patrols that targeted immigrants.

“Ending DACA, whose participants are mostly of Mexican origin, is a culmination of President’s Trump’s oftstated commitments – whether personally held, stated to appease some portion of his constituency, or some combination thereof – to punish and disparage people with Mexican roots,” the lawsuit filed in federal court in Brooklyn said.

In its fight against the travel ban, Hawaii argued that it was illegally motivated by religious discrimination against Muslims and used statements Trump made as a candidate to support that claim.

A federal judge agreed and blocked the ban, though the US Supreme Court later allowed a version to move forward.

The attorneys general who brought the DACA lawsuit – all Democrats – represent states where the population of DACA participants ranges from hundreds to tens of thousands.

Known as “dreamers”, they were brought to the US illegally as children or came with families who overstayed visas.

AttorneyGeneral Jeff Sessions said on Tuesday the programme will end in six months so Congress can have time to find a legislative solution for people in the programme.

Opponents of the programme called DACA an unconstitutional abuse of executive power.

Supporters of the DACA programme disagreed.

Under Trump’s plan, people already enrolled in DACA remain covered until their permits expire. If that happens before March 5, they are eligible to renew them for another two years as long as they apply by Oct 5.

But the programme isn’t accepting new applications. — AP