Texas AG sues to shut down DACA

Effort by 7 states argues program flouts rule of law

AUSTIN — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is demanding that the federal government immediately end a program protecting young immigrants brought to the country illegally as children in a multi-state lawsuit filed Tuesday.

Ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program has long been a priority for Paxton, who has repeatedly threatened legal action against the federal government unless the administration phased out the DACA program. While some states have sued to keep the protections in place, the Texas-led seven-state lawsuit is the first seeking to terminate DACA.

“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,” Paxton said in announcing the legal action.

In September, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the end of the program, but legal challenges and recent court rulings have allowed the program to continue. Last week, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled that DACA protections must stay in place and the government must resume accepting new applications. The judge determined the administration’s decision to terminate the program was based on the

“virtually unexplained” grounds that the program was unlawful.

Judges in Brooklyn and San Francisco have also issued injunctions ordering the program to remain in place, but neither required the government to accept new applications.

“President Trump has a duty under the Constitution to take care that the law be faithfully executed. Activist judges should not stand in the way of the president fulfilling his constitutional duty,” Paxton said. “DACA encourages lawlessness within the federal government and at our borders.”

More than 689,000 people are protected under the DACA program, according to government statistics released last September. About 16 percent of them — or 113,000 — live in Texas. Many of those caught up in the DACA stalemate are commonly called Dreamers.

Paxton’s office alerted the White House that the state would file the lawsuit, but emphasized that the Trump administration is not the target of the states’ action. He said the administration has been “all about the rule of law.”

“Our frustration is not with the administration, it’s with three federal judges in various places in the country,” Paxton said.

Paxton said the lawsuit does not ask the Trump administration to deport immigrants or rescind existing permits. Six other states — Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, South Carolina, West Virginia and Nebraska — joined Texas’ lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Brownsville.

Waste of money?

Several lawmakers — mostly Democrats — law enforcement officials and immigration organizations denounced Paxton’s lawsuit.

Karen Tumlin, the legal director for the National Immigration Law Center, stressed in a series of tweets that Texas’ lawsuit doesn’t affect the earlier court decisions that have shielded the program from attempts by Paxton and numerous Republicans in Congress to shut it down.

She said her message to anyone considering renewing their DACA applications is to proceed if it makes sense for them. “This lawsuit changes nothing in your calculus,” Tumlin said. “Talk to a legal provider, see if renewal is right for you.”

Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo wrote on Twitter that he “proudly” stands with DACA recipients.

“History will show those of us that stand with these productive immigrants (who had no say in their life journey) were just in doing so,” Acevedo said.

Sen. José Menéndez of San Antonio, the chairman of the Texas Senate Hispanic Caucus, called the lawsuit a waste of taxpayer dollars.

“It has been widely accepted that children who are covered under DACA who are brought to this country as children through no fault of their own have done well in our educational settings, have done well in the workforce, have served our nation’s armed forces with distinction,” Menéndez said.