Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson is taking President Donald Trump to court. Again.
Ferguson announced Wednesday that Washington state has filed a multi-state lawsuit to stop Trump’s plan to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
The lawsuit is being co-led by the states of New York and Massachusetts.
Ferguson said the president’s decision to end protections for “Dreamers,” the undocumented immigrants who were brought into the United States as children. Under the DACA program, those residents — estimated to number nearly 18,000 in Washington state — can remain in the country as long as they meet certain criteria, such as not having a criminal record or posing a threat to public safety.
Officials estimate there are approximately 800,000 Dreamers nationwide.
The Trump Administration announced earlier this week it would end the DACA program in six months.
The lawsuit, however, claims Trump’s move to end the DACA program is both unconstitutional and illegal.
The lawsuit also alleges the end of the DACA program would cause immediate harm to hundreds of thousands of people nationwide, and directly injures colleges and universities, employers and state economies by removing the protections that allowed Dreamers to study and work legally without fear of deportation.
“Allowing nearly 18,000 Dreamers to live and work in Washington makes our communities stronger and better places to live,” Ferguson said. “I will do everything in my power to ensure that they can continue to feel secure in what is, for many of them, the only home they have ever known,” he said.
The lawsuit was filed in the Eastern District of New York, and includes the support of a dozen other state attorneys general.
Ferguson had joined earlier this week with Gov. Jay Inslee to warn the Trump Administration of a legal challenge to the end of the DACA program, which was created in 2012 by President Obama, if it was abolished.
“As states like Washington step up to defend the young men and women who call this nation home and are working hard to contribute to our communities and economy, it is imperative that Congress steps up as well,” Inslee said Wednesday.
“There is no justification for inaction, indecision or equivocation. The time has come for each and every member of Congress to take a stand, demand a vote, and pass the Dream Act,” Inslee said.
Officials said the DACA program has allowed more than 17,800 Dreamers in Washington state to work legally, acquire driver’s licenses, open bank accounts, access lines of credit, purchase homes and cars and receive in-state tuition at public universities.
An estimate in the new lawsuit said DACA-eligible residents contribute approximately $51 million annually in state and local taxes in Washington, and another estimate noted that ending the DACA program would cost the Washington economy $258 million in lost tax revenue over a decade.
Amazon, Microsoft and Starbucks have written declarations supporting the new lawsuit, as have representatives for the University of Washington, Washington State University, Columbia Basin College and Big Bend Community College.
The state departments of Social and Health Services and Ecology, as well as the office of the State Treasurer, have also contributed declarations detailing the value of Dreamers in their workplaces.
In the lawsuit, Ferguson alleges that Trump’s action violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution because his decision is in part motivated by discriminatory animus.
Ferguson said the President has made numerous statements on the campaign trail and in office disparaging Mexicans, including calling them “criminals,” “thugs” and “bad hombres.” Nearly 80 percent of Dreamers are of Mexican descent, Ferguson said.
Trump’s decision to end the DACA program also violates Dreamers’ Constitutional due process rights, the lawsuit claims, with the possibility that personal information Dreamers have provided to the federal government could be used against them and their families for immigration enforcement purposes.
Joining Washington, New York and Massachusetts in filing the lawsuit are Connecticut, Delaware, New Mexico, Illinois, Iowa, Hawaii, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington, D.C.
The new lawsuit isn’t the first time Ferguson has challenged the Trump Administration in court.
So far this year, the Washington Attorney General’s Office has prevailed four times against the Trump Administration, including a lawsuit that halted Trump’s proposed immigration ban that targeted Muslim-majority countries.
Officials said every court to have issued a decision has ruled in favor of the Washington Attorney General’s Office in cases it has brought against the Trump Administration.
