School sues government over DACA
The University of California filed suit against the Trump administration in federal court on Friday, charging that it has harmed the school and its students with a plan to rescind a program that gives some protection from deportation to young people whose parents brought them to the United States illegally.
Earlier this week, the Trump administration announced it would end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which gave some 800,000 young people provisional legal permission to live, work and study in this country. President Donald Trump called the program unconstitutional, and he challenged Congress to create a solution.
The decision reverberated because the “dreamers,” as they have become known, are a symbol to some of executive overreach exacerbating the problem of illegal immigration, and to others of innocent young people trying to forge a better life in this country.
The lawsuit pits one of the program’s architects against the current administration trying to dismantle it: Janet Napolitano, president of the University of California, created DACA while serving as Homeland Security secretary for the Obama administration.
It also highlights the impact of the program, and the decision to end it. The University of California has about 4,000 students without legal documentation living in the United States (many of them with DACA), as well as instructors and health-care providers who have DACA status.
Homeland Security spokeswoman Joanne Talbot said that department does not comment on pending legislation.
Napolitano said in a statement, “Neither I, nor the University of California, take the step of suing the federal government lightly, especially not the very agency that I led.
“It is imperative, however, that we stand up for these vital members of the UC community. They represent the best of who we are — hardworking, resilient and motivated high achievers. To arbitrarily and capriciously end the DACA program, which benefits our country as a whole, is not only unlawful, it is contrary to our national values and bad policy.”