States band to fight DACA change
WASHINGTON — Massachusetts and more than a dozen other states have filed suit challenging President Trump’s plan to nix the Obama-era order shielding immigrants brought into the country illegally as children from deportation.
“I hope that while lit- igation is pending, the president will change his mind,” Bay State Attorney General Maura Healey said yesterday on Boston Herald Radio’s “Morning Meeting” show.
The suit, filed in a New York federal court, seeks to halt Trump’s move to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals order that gave roughly 800,000 enrollees the ability to work and attend school.
“President Trump and this administration acted in ways that are unlawful and unconstitutional,” said Healey, one of 16 officials from states and the District of Columbia challenging Trump’s action.
While presidents generally have authority to rescind orders put in place by their predecessors, Healey said of Trump’s action: “It is not lawful, it is not justified to rescind this based on animus.
“The government has to act in a way that is constitutional when it is exercising its authority and its discretion,” Healey said. Trump administration officials, she added, “did not have a valid justification for this, they did not use the correct procedures for this, the action was arbitrary and capricious, and it causes harm to residents within our state.”
On Capitol Hill, lawmakers began debating a response to Trump’s plan, which gives Congress six months to act. Democrats pressed to quickly send a clean version of the DREAM Act, focusing on those covered by the order. But Republicans, including Trump, called for any proposal to also include measures to increase border security. A Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the bill is scheduled for Wednesday.
“Chuck and Nancy would like to see something happen, and so do I,” Trump told reporters soon after meeting congressional leaders, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, at the White House. “And I said if we can get something to happen, we’re going to sign it and we’re going to make a lot of happy people.”
Trump did not elaborate on what he meant in a tweet suggesting he’d “revisit” his action if Congress fails to act.
“I’d like to see something where we have good border security, and we have a great DACA transaction where everybody is happy,” Trump said, noting that former President Barack Obama called DACA a temporary measure. “I’d like to see a permanent deal, and I think it’s going to happen.”