Washington: Six young undocumented migrants filed suit in San Francisco federal court against President Donald Trump for committing an “unprecedented violation” of their rights by abruptly ending the so-called DACA immigration program.
In the lawsuit on Monday, the undocumented migrants, known as DREAMers, accuse the government of violating their right to due process by abruptly announcing the end of DACA, a move that will become effective in six months, the term Trump established for Congress to find an alternative to the immigration plan.
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This is the first lawsuit to be filed against Trump by those affected by his decision to suspend the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program implemented in 2012 by former President Barack Obama in a controversial executive order and which has allowed some 800,000 young undocumented foreigners to work, get driver’s licenses and stave off deportation, Efe news reported.
They also argue that the government has violated the amendment to the US Constitution establishing that all people must be treated equally under the law.
The plaintiffs go on to say, in their filing, that the move to eliminate DACA “was motivated by unconstitutional bias against Mexicans and Latinos,” and they demand that the government “honor its promise” to them, as per the program’s guidelines established in 2012 and since.
Therefore, the plaintiffs are asking the support to temporarily suspend — before any damage results — Trump’s “illegal and unconstitutional” decision.
The DREAMers’ lawsuit comes along with other legal moves against the DACA elimination underway elsewhere in the US, including New York.
The Trump administration on September 5 announced it was eliminating DACA but said that the measure would only enter into force on March 5, 2018, thus allowing Congress, which is the only authority that may change the US immigration system, time to approve a law to clarify the situation of the DREAMers.
–IANS