Lawsuit: Rescinding DACA will cause “immediate harm” to nearly 2,800 in Iowa
DES MOINES – Attorney General Tom Miller Wednesday joined 15 state attorneys general in a federal lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump's order to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which protects those brought into the United States illegally as children.
“DACA has protected hundreds of thousands of young people, including nearly 2,800 here in Iowa, who arrived illegally as children, grew up following the rules, and are very much a part of our fabric,” Miller said. “Our lawsuit alleges the Trump administration’s action to dismantle DACA violates peoples’ due process, denies them equal protection under our constitution, and causes ‘immediate harm’ to those whom DACA is intended to protect.”
Since DACA began in 2012, according to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the federal government has approved nearly 800,000 DACA recipients nationwide.
As of March 31, USCIS reported approving approximately 2,798 initial DACA applications and 2,780 renewals in Iowa.
The Trump administration’s DACA actions, according to the lawsuit, “affect Iowa’s economy, residents, families, educational institutions, state agencies, and businesses.”
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, asks the court to declare the president’s DACA memo unconstitutional and unlawful, and enjoin the administration from enforcing it.
###
