New York Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman, along with 15 other Attorneys General from around the country and the District of Columbia formally filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration yesterday due to the termination of the DACA program. Schneiderman appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC last night to discuss the reasons for the lawsuit. In addition to explaining how their state economies will be hurt if DACA grantees would lose their status, he explained that, like Trump’s Muslim ban, it is a matter of constitutional law that you cannot enact or rescind a government policy if one of the major causal factors is “discriminatory animus” and if the policy has a deleterious impact on a protected group. In particular, the lawsuit argues that the Trump Administration, in terminating DACA, violates due process rights, harms state residents, institutions, and economies, and violates the Equal Protection Clause.
The lawsuit claims Trump’s decision was motivated “at least in part, by a discriminatory motive against Mexicans, who are the largest beneficiary group of the DACA program (78%), citing many pejorative statements he made during the 2016 presidential election. Schneiderman states: “this cruel move to rescind DACA feeds the beast of bigotry.”
The lawsuit also includes a number of declarations from businesses, academic institutions, local governments, DACA grantees, and others impacted by the Trump administration’s decision to end DACA.
Edward Shulman, Esq., Immigration Attorney and founder of the Immigration firm, the Shulman Law Group, LLC, applauds the advocacy and legal action of Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and the other Attorneys General from New York, Massachusetts, Washington, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Virginia. Shulman states: “We, as a nation, must do everything we can to protect the DREAMers. Whether or not DACA prevails, we believe that a more permanent and curative solution, in the form of a more comprehensive legislative reform bill, is in order to protect and support these individuals.”