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California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said Trump's move to
rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
program that protected these immigrants from deportation and
gave them work permits would be "an economic travesty" for the
most populous U.S. state, which depends on immigrant labor.
Minnesota, Maryland and Maine joined California in filing the
lawsuit in federal court in San Francisco.
Trump last week said he would end the program, which was created
in 2012 by his Democratic predecessor Barack Obama, effective in
March, giving Congress six months to determine the fate of the
nearly 800,000 young adults covered by DACA, dubbed "Dreamers."
A Justice Department spokesman could not immediately be reached
for comment. The department last week said Obama overstepped his
constitutional authority when he bypassed Congress and created
the program unilaterally.
Last week, 16 other state attorneys general filed a separate
lawsuit in a Brooklyn federal court saying Trump's decision
violated constitutional protections for Dreamers, as well as
other claims. The California lawsuit asserts similar legal
grounds.
If people protected under DACA lose their work authorization,
the California lawsuit also said, then they would face the loss
of employer-provided health insurance, which would potentially
increase the state's expenditures on the uninsured.
"In California you don't become the world's sixth-largest
economy, just because," Becerra said.
Trump's move drew criticism from business and religious leaders,
mayors, governors, Democratic lawmakers, unions and civil
liberties advocates. Legal experts have said court challenges to
Trump's decision could face an uphill battle because a president
typically has wide authority in implementing immigration policy.
(Reporting by Dan Levine; Editing by Will Dunham)
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