Trump administration sued by 15 states over ending DACA programme for young immigrants

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Protesters rally in Indiana Square before marching to the Department of Justice to demonstrate against the Trump Administration's decision to end the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy September 6, 2017. Fifteen states have filed suit against the decision. Photo: AFP

Published: 3:23am, 7 Sep 2017Updated: 6:11am, 11 Jan 2018

Fifteen states and the District of Columbia sued on Wednesday to block President Donald Trump’s plan to end a programme protecting young immigrants from deportation, an act Washington state’s attorney general called “a dark time for our country.”

The lawsuit was filed in the Eastern District of New York. The plaintiffs were the states of New York, Massachusetts, Washington, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia.

Dreamers (L) Jario Reyes, 25 of Rogers, Arkansas and (R) Karen Caudillo, 21 of Orlando, Florida attends a press conference on the Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programme after US President Donald JTrump has decided to end the Obama-era programme that grants work permits to undocumented immigrants who arrived in the country as children. Photo: EPA

On Tuesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said a programme known as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA, will end in six months to give Congress time to find a legislative solution for the immigrants.

The participants were brought to the US illegally as children or came with families who overstayed visas.