Otter, Wasden Threaten to Sue if Trump Doesn't revoke DACA
Otter, Wasden threaten to sue if Trump doesn't revoke DACA
BOISE — Idaho’s governor and attorney general joined nine red-state AGs Wednesday in a threat to sue the Trump administration if it doesn’t end the Obama-era policy that shields some undocumented immigrants whose parents brought them here as children from deportation.
Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter, AG Lawrence Wasden, and the attorneys general of Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions saying they will take action if the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy isn’t revoked by Sept. 5.
These 10 states were among 26, led by Texas, who were part of a lawsuit against an expansion of DACA that made more young people eligible and also would have shielded their parents from deportation. The expansion was put on hold as the lawsuit made its way through the courts and the Trump administration said two weeks ago it plans to undo it. However, the Trump administration does not plan to revoke the original DACA, as well as allowing people to keep the work permits they got under the “expanded DACA” during the period the federal government was accepting applications.
Now, these 10 states are saying they will amend the lawsuit to challenge the original DACA program if the Trump administration doesn’t revoke the policy and also revoke the “expanded DACA” permits.
As of this March, a little more than 3,100 people in Idaho had been authorized to stay in the country under DACA. According to a Migration Policy Institute estimate, this is a little more than half the number of Idaho residents eligible for DACA, most of them from Mexico.
