Fifteen states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit Wednesday against President Donald Trump’s decision to revoke the previous administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, The Hill reports.
Announcing the suit, Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson said that “the President has made numerous statements on the campaign trail and in office disparaging Mexicans.”
“We allege the president’s own statements make clear that DREAMers are being targeted based on their national origin.” he noted.
Ferguson,New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey are leading the suit, joined by Democratic attorneys general from Connecticut, New Mexico, Illinois, Hawaii, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Delaware, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Vermont and Washington, D.C.
According to Ferguson, the states would challenge Trump’s action on four fronts. The suit will allege the decision violates the Administrative Procedure Act in two different ways, while also violating the due process and equal protection clauses of the Constitution.
Moreover, Ferguson added that he sees similarities between the decision to roll back DACA and the Trump administration’s early efforts to ban travel from certain predominately Muslim countries in the Middle East. Washington state also challenged that executive order, which courts have blocked.
The suit will say Trump’s decision on DACA is arbitrary and capricious, allegations that would violate the Administrative Procedure Act, and it will also claim that the administration did not properly lay out its reasoning behind canceling the program, a process claim that would also violate the act.
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