Texas sues Trump administration to end 'Dreamers' programme

[webfact]

Texas sues Trump administration to end 'Dreamers' programme

By Lawrence Hurley

 

FILE PHOTO: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton addresses reporters on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, DC, U.S., March 2, 2016. At right is Texas Solicitor General Scott Keller. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Texas and six other Republican-governed states on Tuesday sued the Trump administration to try to end a programme launched by Democratic former President Barack Obama that protects immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children.

 

The states filed suit in federal court in Texas in the latest twist in an ongoing policy and legal fight over the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programme that Republican President Donald Trump already has tried to rescind.

 

Trump said in September he would terminate DACA and end its protections for the immigrants who are sometimes called "Dreamers," but gave the Republican-controlled Congress until March 6 to replace it. Policy differences between Trump and lawmakers in both parties led to Congress' failing to act.

 

In the meantime, courts ruled that the programme can stay in place for now, although new applications will not be accepted.

 

The programme protects around 700,000 young adults, mostly Hispanics, from deportation and gives them work permits for two-year periods, after which they must re-apply.

 

Texas, joined by Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Carolina and West Virginia, argued in the lawsuit that the Obama administration exceeded its authority by creating the programme without congressional action.

 

"Our lawsuit is about the rule of law, not the wisdom of any particular immigration policy," Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, said in a statement.

 

"Texas has argued for years that the federal executive branch lacks the power to unilaterally grant unlawfully present aliens lawful presence and work authorization," he added.

 

The head of a leading Latino legal civil rights organisation said the filing came too late and was on the wrong side of the law.

 

"Today's filing by seven retrograde states comes nearly six years after DACA was introduced and many weeks after three other federal courts began to order that the DACA initiative continue despite Donald Trump's attempt to end it," said Thomas Saenz, president the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

 

The lawsuit asks the judge to wind down DACA, which would prevent any new permits from being issued or renewed but would not cancel current permits.

 

(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Additional reporting by Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Texas; Editing by Will Dunham and Leslie Adler)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-05-02

[meechai]

26 minutes ago, webfact said:

"Texas has argued for years that the federal executive branch lacks the power to unilaterally grant unlawfully present aliens lawful presence and work authorization,"

 

Common Sense would agree

[mikebike]

5 minutes ago, meechai said:

 

Common Sense would agree

What does common sense have to do with govt policy?

[sukhumvitneon]

Not holding my breath but I hope it succeeds.

[bristolboy]

What makes this amusing is that no state depends more, or possibly as much, on undocumented workers than does Texas. Its home construction industry would collapse without them.

[Expatthailover]

47 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

What makes this amusing is that no state depends more, or possibly as much, on undocumented workers than does Texas. Its home construction industry would collapse without them.

Trump is convinced those that vote for him ( red necks, white supremacists and trailer park residents) will rush to take these jobs that involve hard work, low pay and long hours eg domestic servants, labouring etc, that these immigrants are doing. 

Latest figures show that usa is facing a severe labour shortage in the short/medium term. 

Talk about shooting oneself in the foot.

[sukhumvitneon]

10 minutes ago, Expatthailover said:

Trump is convinced those that vote for him ( red necks, white supremacists and trailer park residents) will rush to take these jobs that involve hard work, low pay and long hours eg domestic servants, labouring etc, that these immigrants are doing. 

 

Spoken like someone who not only failed Econ 101 but also doesn't understand the point of immigration laws.  Americans can and will do those jobs...if the money is there.  People wouldn't move to Williston, ND to work for $8/hour.  But during the oil boom when oil field jobs in ND paid $80k/year?  You had a ton of Americans pouring in to work. Also, nice labeling of the rural poor.  It worked out so well for Hillary.  Keep it up and you can hand Trump another election.

 

Quote

Latest figures show that usa is facing a severe labour shortage in the short/medium term. 

 

 

 

Where did you read that?  Newsweek?  Some "think tank" study?  Wages have been stagnant for decades in the US.  Why do you think that is?  Labor oversupply.

[attrayant]

2 hours ago, meechai said:

Common Sense would agree

 

But not strongly enough to have done something about this six years ago when it was first enacted?

[attrayant]

57 minutes ago, sukhumvitneon said:

Americans can and will do those jobs...if the money is there.

 

That's the point.  Employers aren't willing to pay more but still want the workers.  Just like consumers who want farm produce as cheap as possible, and will import it from overseas if necessary, rather than pay high prices for local produce due to high labor costs.

 

Simply put, there is a strong economic demand for immigrant labor so long as we have a free market and consumer demand sets the price of labor.

 

Lack of Workers, Not Work, Weighs on the Nation's Economy

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 2, 2018 by attrayant
added link to article

[55Jay]

2 hours ago, bristolboy said:

What makes this amusing is that no state depends more, or possibly as much, on undocumented workers than does Texas. Its home construction industry would collapse without them.

Yup.  Estimates suggest 1/2 or more of Texas' construction labor force are illegals.

 

What I found amusing is the correlation to Dreamers.  They aren't illegals.  Moreover, I rather doubt there are many, if any, Dreamers out there stealing construction jobs from less privileged, undocumented migrant workers.   ¿Que piensas?

Edited May 2, 2018 by 55Jay

[bristolboy]

1 hour ago, 55Jay said:

Yup.  Estimates suggest 1/2 or more of Texas' construction labor force are illegals.

 

What I found amusing is the correlation to Dreamers.  They aren't illegals.  Moreover, I rather doubt there are many, if any, Dreamers out there stealing construction jobs from less privileged, undocumented migrant workers.   ¿Que piensas?

If Trump's revocation of the Dreamer executive order is upheld, then they are illegals. Righit now it's up in the air

And Texas is also aiming to make them illegals.

You don't see the humor in that?

[zydeco]

5 hours ago, sukhumvitneon said:

Not holding my breath but I hope it succeeds.

The Texas AG's lawsuit against DAPA, the program parallel to DACA, has already been successful.  In the case of DACA, the AG held off because of the promise of presidential action to repeal and/or allow congress to act.  Neither of those happened.  The case will now proceed to the same courts that struck down DAPA.

[zydeco]

2 hours ago, 55Jay said:

Yup.  Estimates suggest 1/2 or more of Texas' construction labor force are illegals.

 

What I found amusing is the correlation to Dreamers.  They aren't illegals.  Moreover, I rather doubt there are many, if any, Dreamers out there stealing construction jobs from less privileged, undocumented migrant workers.   ¿Que piensas?

One of the reasons the work ethic has failed in the US is precisely because many Americans have become used to having illegals perform jobs at what amounts to indentured servitude. I grew up in Texas. During high school summers and college, I worked at landscaping jobs in temperatures that routinely hit 100+ Fahrenheit (38 C) and frequently go into the 105-107 (42 C) level in July, August, and early September. Many high school friends worked roofing, fencing, and construction. And they received decent pay for it--all of which has declined to the level of scraps because of illegal labor today. The point is that Americans in the past worked those jobs and can do so again. Maybe a lot of millennial bellyaching would stop if they got paid decently, even if it was outdoors work in the sun. I actually liked it.  And I kept up doing all my own yard work as well as house repairs until the time I left Texas for Thailand.

[55Jay]

33 minutes ago, zydeco said:

One of the reasons the work ethic has failed in the US is precisely because many Americans have become used to having illegals perform jobs at what amounts to indentured servitude. I grew up in Texas. During high school summers and college, I worked at landscaping jobs in temperatures that routinely hit 100+ Fahrenheit (38 C) and frequently go into the 105-107 (42 C) level in July, August, and early September. Many high school friends worked roofing, fencing, and construction. And they received decent pay for it--all of which has declined to the level of scraps because of illegal labor today. The point is that Americans in the past worked those jobs and can do so again. Maybe a lot of millennial bellyaching would stop if they got paid decently, even if it was outdoors work in the sun. I actually liked it.  And I kept up doing all my own yard work as well as house repairs until the time I left Texas for Thailand.

There's a whole lotta truth in what you say there, and I had similar experiences growing up, and came away with good work ethic.

 

But I still don't believe an abrupt end to the way things work now, and have for decades, is the right answer.   Nor another full-on amnesty.  There's a sensible middle path but Murica and her politicians don't seem ready to quit <deleted> around and just git 'er done.  

[Srikcir]

9 hours ago, webfact said:

courts ruled that the programme can stay in place for now

The "courts" includes the US Supreme Court that declined to hear a previous federal government challenge to a lower court ruling to allow DACA to remain in place pending further congressional legislation.

9 hours ago, webfact said:

new applications will not be accepted.

But nearly 700,000 recipients of DACA can continue to renew their applications. 

http://time.com/5175496/supreme-court-daca-dreamers-deadline/

Texas and six other Republican-governed states on Tuesday suit against the Trump administration to try to end DACA seems mistimed and already addressed by the courts.

9 hours ago, webfact said:

"Our lawsuit is about the rule of law, not the wisdom of any particular immigration policy,"

DACA is about the rule of law. Law is implemented through "vetted" federal regulatory processes that have the force of law. Congress must address these regulations that cannot simply be dismissed or overturned by Presidential Order.

9 hours ago, webfact said:

The lawsuit asks the judge to wind down DACA

The judiciary does not have such authority. Congress does and hasn't.