California Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed a lawsuit Monday along with Minnesota, Maryland, and Maine against the Trump administration arguing that the government’s “actions in rescinding DACA are illegal and seriously harm Plaintiff States’ interests in ways that have already started to materialize and that threaten to last for generations.”
The lawsuit claimed that rescinding DACA is “unlawful” because it violates the recipients’ Fifth Amendment rights to due process by altering “prior assurances” from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regarding the use of the participants’ information in their applications.
They also claim that DHS did not provide adequate notice or opportunity to comment on the decision as “required by the American Procedure Act (APA).” They call the reasons for ending DACA “legally insufficient,” claiming they are not “substantive.” They also claim the decision discriminates DACA recipients “in violation of the equal protection guarantee of the Fifth Amendment” by making them unable to further pursue their livelihoods and education.
The states ask the Court to “enjoin DHS from rescinding DACA and declare that DHS is equitably estopped from using information gathered pursuant to the DACA program.”
In a press conference announcing the lawsuit, Becerra called Trump’s order “unlawful and mean-spirited.”
He also said Trump’s decision would harm the economy in California.
“You don’t become the sixth-largest economy in the world just because,” Becerra said. “It just so happens that one of every four of the DACA recipients in this country — some 200,000 — live and work and call California their home, and they’ve been helping California become the sixth-largest economy in the world.”
This brings the total of Democratic Attorneys General suing over DACA to 20, as 15 states and the District of Columbia filed a very similar lawsuit last week. Becerra decided to file a separate lawsuit since a quarter of DACA recipients reside in California.