How Far Can States Go In Fighting The DACA Decision? and the Answer As To Why California Is Going It Alone
The Mercury News asks the relevant questions today. What right do states have to fight a federal immigration decision? Isn’t the federal government in charge of immigration?
Until the lawsuits filed in response to Trump’s decision to restrict refugees, you would of thought so. But the Judges of the 9th Circuit, which has jurisdiction over California, have claimed otherwise and emboldened states on the thinnest of reads to challenge such assumptions. Learning from the prior 9th Circuit rulings, which based its earlier decisions on the claim that the Trump immigration orders would hurt the people of states economically, the 15 states threatening suits have claimed the Trump DACA Decision would do the same. Of course, the same argument could be made with respect to every federal law and, if upheld, would bring down our federal/state system of government.
CA has chosen to go it along and won’t join the other 15 states in the threatened lawsuit. Why? My bet is that the CA Attorney General wants to make sure a suit is heard in the 9th Circuit to make sure he gets a favorable ruling. It’s called “forum shopping in legal terms.” It’s not supposed to happen but it does all the time. Then again, this issue isn’t about the law. After all, it is absurd to say that a program instituted by an executive order in violation of Constitutional powers (under Obama’s own admission) cannot be undone by an executive order.
CA Vows To Fight White House DACA Decision, But How Far Can States Go?
Throughout California, the message to Dreamers in the wake of President Donald Trump’s plan to end deportation protection for young undocumented immigrants has been clear: We’ve got your backs.
But with the federal government’s exclusive control to enforce immigration law, it’s not clear how effective the resistance of California and other states will be.
On Wednesday, 15 states and the District of Columbia sued the U.S. government to block Trump’s plan to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and ask Congress to come up with a solution for Dreamers within six months. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said he plans to file a separate suit to defend the state’s 220,000 DACA recipients.
