Texas forces Trump to pick sides on Dreamer amnesty
Texas has put President Trump over a barrel with its threat to sue to stop the 2012 deportation amnesty for Dreamers, said legal analysts, calling the state’s case as close to a slam-dunk as possible.
Known in Washington as DACA, the amnesty was started by President Obama — and was roundly criticized in last year’s campaign by Mr. Trump. Now in office, though, Mr. Trump has reversed himself and kept DACA intact, approving tens of thousands of new and renewal applications.
But the program has been on borrowed time for more than a year, ever since a series of court battles ended with the June 2016 Supreme Court ruling that invalidated Mr. Obama’s second amnesty, the 2014 program known as DAPA.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has now officially pressed the issue, saying in a letter last week that if DAPA is illegal, then so is DACA. He gave Mr. Trump until early September to phase out the program or else he will force the courts to rule.
“This is a masterful stroke by Texas,” said Josh Blackman, an associate professor at South Texas College of Law. He said Mr. Trump has been trying “to have it both ways” but will now have to choose.
“If Texas decides to litigate this, you’ll now have the Trump administration defending in court an illegal program that they said is illegal,” he said.
Source:- http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jul/3/texas-forces-donald-trump-to-pick-sides-on-dreamer/
