Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said that his state would sue to stop the policy from Barack Obama's administration that allowed illegal aliens to stay in the U.S. if they arrived as minors - otherwise known as Dreamers.
President Donald Trump has kept the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy (DACA), although he criticized it during his presidential campaign. Trump has signed off on tens of thousands of new applications and renewals, The Washington Times reported.
A 2016 ruling defeated Obama's second amnesty program, the program Deferred Action for Parents of Americans. Paxton said that if DAPA was ruled invalid, DACA must be likewise invalid, the Times reported.
Paxton gave the president until early September to cut the program or he will send the issue to court, he said.
Legal experts said the case would be an easy win, the Times reported.
"This is a masterful stroke by Texas," Josh Blackman, South Texas College of Law professor told the Times. He said Trump tried “to have it both ways,” but now must pick a side, the report said.
"If Texas decides to litigate this, you'll now have the Trump administration defending in court an illegal program that they said is illegal,” Blackman told the Times.
Pro-DACA activists say that nearly half of the recipients of DACA since 2012 have increased their earnings, most have gotten driver's licenses, and some have bought homes, the Times reported.
The Trump administration could address the issue by removing a part of the DACA program that provides a subsidy to give driver's licenses to those “lawfully present” in the U.S.
If Trump removes the “lawfully present” designation, it could take away the main reason for Texas to sue, Stephen Legomsky, a former Homeland Security lawyer, said in the Times.
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