AG Paxton Continues Pressing for DACA Phase Out in U.S. District Court

Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas Leading a 10-state coalition Attorney General Ken Paxton today filed a response brief in U.S. District Court in advance of Wednesdays hearing where the states seek to end the unlawful Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Among other points the brief corrects misrepresentations made in a business coalitions brief opposing the lawsuit. The Texas Association of Business and others falsely claimed in their amicus brief that the DACA lawsuit seeks deportation of all DACA recipients. In his response brief Attorney General Paxton however again points out that the lawsuit in fact asks the court to halt new applications and renewals while the case proceeds and does not call for revoking existing DACA status for those who already have a two-year permit.

DACA is unconstitutional because it rewrote federal law without congressional approval" Attorney General Paxton said. Our lawsuit asks the court to prevent future illegal actions restore the rule of law to our immigration system and provide Congress with an opportunity to finally address the issue."

Attorney General Paxtons standing arguments in the DACA lawsuit are actually bolstered by the business coalitions brief. Their brief admits DACA deprives some citizens (or lawfully-present workers) of jobs does not dispute that the program is illegal and does not dispute that DACA costs Texas and other states vast sums of money for health care education and law enforcement services. Attorney General Paxton leads a coalition that now represents 10 states in a lawsuit against the federal government to end DACA which granted lawful presence and work permits to nearly one million unlawfully present aliens without congressional approval. Siding with Texas the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it would not defend DACA calling the program unlawful" and an open-ended circumvention of immigration laws." Texas is joined on todays response brief by the attorneys general of Alabama Arkansas Kansas Louisiana Nebraska South Carolina and West Virginia along with the governors of Maine and Mississippi. View a copy of the response brief here: https://bit.ly/2MeNSrL View a copy of the lawsuit here: https://bit.ly/2JKjh3P View a copy of the motion seeking a nationwide injunction here: https://bit.ly/2KumAgE