Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has asked the U.S. District Court for a nationwide injunction to phase out and completely stop the issuing and renewing of any additional permits under DACA, or the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
Attorney General Paxton’s Coalition Now Represents 10 States
In May of this year, Attorney General Paxton led a coalition that now represents ten other states. This coalition includes a lawsuit against the federal government to end President Obama’s DACA program. According to Attorney General Paxton, the program which grants unlawfully present aliens work permits and legal presence is unconstitutional.
Attorney General Paxton states, “DACA is unconstitutional because it rewrote the federal law over the objections of Congress. DACA represents a dangerous view of executive power, which would allow the president to unilaterally set aside any duly enacted law. It cannot be allowed to stand without doing serious harm to our Constitution.”
Along with Texas in the DACA lawsuit are the attorneys general of Alabama, Kansas, Arkansas, Nebraska, Louisiana, South Carolina, West Virginia and the governors of Maine and Mississippi.
A Nationwide Injunction
In September of 2017, President Trump agreed to phase out DACA by March of this year after Attorney General Paxton led his coalition requesting he do so or face court. However, U.S. District Courts in California, New York and Washington, D.C. blocked the cancellation of DACA by Homeland Security.
Attorney General Paxton’s request for a nationwide injunction comes while the multistate coalition lawsuit is pending. During the district court hearing, lawyers from Attorney General Paxton’s office stated that DACA is as legally flawed as DAPA or the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans, another Obama-era program. Attorney General Paxton led a successful 26-state coalition to the Supreme Court to stop DAPA and aims to do the same for the DACA program.
Learn More About the Injunction Request
Will DACA ultimately reach its end like the late DAPA program? To learn more about Texas Attorney General Paxton’s injunction request, visit the National Immigration Law Center’s current status update on the litigation. You can also view a copy of the motion online.