Idaho Governor is the only one to join 10 State Attorneys General, including Idaho’s, to send Trump an ultimatum to rescind DACA
Boise, ID— The American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho, affiliates in 10 number of states, and the national ACLU filed open records requests today demanding copies of any communications between the Idaho Office of the Attorney General, the Idaho’s Governor’s Office, and the federal government regarding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (“DACA”) program.
This request follows a late June letter, sent by state officials from 10 states, including Idaho, to Attorney General Jeff Sessions demanding that the Trump administration end the DACA program. If the administration does not agree by September 5 to end DACA, the states threaten to amend an existing lawsuit in front of Judge Andrew Hanen in Texas to challenge the lawfulness of the program.
The state officials may have a supportive ally in longtime DACA opponent Attorney General Sessions. In January 2017, Sessions said that DACA is “very questionable, in my opinion, constitutionally.” And responding to the states’ June 2017 letter, Sessions said, “I like it that our states and localities are holding the federal government to account and expecting us to do our responsibility to the state and locals, and that’s to enforce the law.”
“The DACA program is a critical lifeline for nearly 800,000 young immigrants who call this country home,” said Leo Morales, ACLU of Idaho executive director. “Since its creation five years ago, DACA has enabled thousands of young men and women—here in Idaho—to attend school, support their families, begin a career, and pursue the American dream. DACA gets us closer to living our shared values of family, hard work and opportunity.”
As today’s request states, “it remains unclear whether the United States will maintain its defense of the DACA program. [The] statements [from Attorney General Sessions] raise serious questions regarding the United States’ commitment to defending the legality of the DACA program against the States’ threatened litigation, as well as questions about possible communications regarding the Texas litigation between the States and members of the Trump administration.”
All of the state and national open records requests are available here:
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