'Dreamers' sue Trump over DACA, allege 'bias against Mexicans'
Six “Dreamers” have filed a lawsuit challenging President Trump’s move to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
[RELATED: Obama's DHS Secretary thinks Trump can't rescind DACA]
“This lawsuit gives Dreamers—the people most affected by the unconstitutional decision to end DACA—an opportunity to tell their own story and demand fairness from their government,” Public Counsel, a law firm representing the plaintiffs, wrote on its website.
“Public Counsel is honored to represent these fierce and resilient young people in their pursuit of justice!” the firm added.
According the firm’s press release, the lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and claims that the federal government “perpetrated a cruel bait and switch” by asking illegal immigrants “to identify themselves in exchange for the protection to live and work in the United States.”
[RELATED: UGA prof calls Trump, Sessions 'racists' for repealing DACA]
“The decision to end the DACA program is a broken promise and an unprecedented violation of the constitutional rights of Plaintiffs and other young people who relied on the federal government to honor that promise,” the lawsuit argues.
“This cruel bait and switch, which was motivated by unconstitutional bias against Mexicans and Latinos, violates the equal protection component of the Fifth Amendment, the due process rights of Plaintiffs and other DACA recipients, and federal law, including the Administrative Procedure Act,” it adds provocatively.
According to Public Counsel, the “Dreamers case” is “the first lawsuit from DACA beneficiaries, each of whom would face potentially devastating consequences from the termination of DACA.”
The lawsuit also takes a jab at Trump’s political communication strategies, arguing that the president has “a history of tweets, campaign speeches, debate responses, and other statements alleging that Mexican and Latino immigrants are rapists, criminals, and otherwise bad people.”
[RELATED: California to provide $30 million to DACA students]
“Moreover, shortly before terminating DACA, President Trump pardoned former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio for a criminal contempt of court conviction related to Sheriff Arpaio’s discriminatory practices against Latinos, asserting that the Sheriff had been convicted of contempt merely for ‘doing his job,’” the lawyers noted.
Additionally, the document maintains that Trump’s statements, “including the termination of the DACA program, appealed to voters who harbor hostility toward Mexican and Latino immigrants.”
The lawsuit is one of the latest legal challenges to the White House policy on DACA that has been widely condemned by numerous universities and student groups around the county. Earlier in September, the University of California also filed a lawsuit against Trump, calling his decision “capricious” and unconstitutional.
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