Thread: Texas AG Ken Paxton sues Trump administration for continuing DACA

Texas AG Ken Paxton sues Trump administration for continuing DACA




May 1, 2018

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Tuesday the state is suing President Donald Trump's administration for continuing the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Paxton says the program still violates the constitution because it's been a pathway to citizenship for about a 1,000 "dreamers" as they're called.



DACA is the legal deportation protective for people who came to America illegally as children. It allows them to work and live in the country while not being citizens. Most crossed the U.S.-Mexico border with their families.


Paxton sees this as following through on his promise.



"Immigration law is the responsibility of Congress and this was put in place by executive order," Paxton told KXAN. "Congress isn't getting the job done as the election in November gets closer and closer."


"It's about the rule of law. It's about the Constitution. It doesn't matter if we have a Republican president of a Democratic president. We have to keep power checked. Presidents have this tendency to operate outside of their traditional role or authority," said Paxton.


A spokesperson for the Texas Democratic Party, however, says this is all a waste of Texas resources.

"There are more pressing issues that Texans care about, but what we've seen time and time again is that our Attorney General Ken Paxton keeps attacking dreamers, keeps attacking the immigrant community," said Delma Limones, spokesperson for the Texas Democratic Party.

The difference between this lawsuit and the others going through in California, New York, and D.C is this is the only one still asking to repeal DACA, not renew DACA. This suit will go through the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, historically a friendlier court for conservatives.


Timeline

DACA was created by then-President Barack Obama. The state of Texas sued the federal government over the issue, calling it unconstitutional because the executive branch could not create new immigration and citizenship laws. Then Trump was elected.


In 2017, Paxton threatened a lawsuit from the state if the Trump administration didn't rescind DACA.

In September, the president announced he would rescind DACA through executive order if Congress didn't come up with a permanent fix by March 2018. Since then, many lawsuits have been filed in support of DACA, with the hope of the courts intervening to protect the people who qualify, known as "dreamers."


The March deadline came and went without a Congressional fix for the program. Trump has blamed the Democrats for the lack of a deal. Now, Paxton is filing suit to keep the president at his word and rescind the program.


http://www.kxan.com/news/texas/texas...aca/1153351168