Texas led a coalition of states Tuesday in a lawsuit challenging the legality of the Obama-era DACA deportation amnesty, opening up a new legal front in the increasingly messy battle over illegal immigration.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in southern Texas, asks judges to rule against the 2012 program that’s granted tentative legal status to more than 800,000 Dreamers.
Rather than ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, though, the seven-state coalition says it would be open to a two-year phaseout similar to what President Trump tried to do last year. No new DACA permits or renewals would be allowed, but those already approved could serve out the rest of their two-year permits.
“Texas has argued for years that the federal executive branch lacks the power to unilaterally grant unlawfully present aliens lawful presence and work authorization,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in filing the lawsuit. “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.”
Mr. Paxton had threatened to file this type of lawsuit last year unless the Trump administration voluntarily ended DACA. Mr. Trump complied, announcing a six-month phaseout.
But as the phaseout was proceeding multiple federal courts stepped in and ruled the phaseout illegal, saying Mr. Trump cut too many corners for his move to be legal.
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