Washington AG Ferguson warns battle over DACA may not be over

The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected President Donald Trump’s effort to end legal protections for 650,000 young immigrants. Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson co-led the legal challenge, and weighed in on the ruling on Seattle’s Morning News.

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“It’s obviously a huge victory for the state of Washington and for Dreamers,” Ferguson said.

Supreme Court justices rejected arguments from the Trump administration claiming that the 8-year-old Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program is illegal and that courts have no role to play in reviewing the decision to end DACA. The program covers people who have been in the United States since they were children and are in the country illegally. In some cases, they have no memory of any home other than the United States.

There are over 800,000 Dreamers in the United States right now, roughly 18,000 of which reside in Washington state.

Ferguson also warned that the fight may not be entirely over, given that the court’s ruling against the Trump administration was largely along procedural lines.

“Theoretically, it could still go on,” he noted. “In other words, the Trump administration could try to fix the process problems they had in making this decision.”

Other Washington state leaders and lawmakers voiced support for the Supreme Court’s Thursday ruling as well, including Gov. Jay Inslee, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, and Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan.

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“It was cruel, senseless and unlawful for the Trump administration to spend the last four years threatening these hardworking individuals with deportation,” Inslee said in a written statement. “The president’s xenophobic and relentlessly anti-immigrant agenda — focused on building walls and deporting friends, neighbors, co-workers and family members — is an affront to the principles this nation was founded on. It does not reflect who we are as Americans.”

“With its ruling, the Supreme Court ensures DACA recipients can continue to live their lives and pursue the incredible opportunities promised to them eight years ago, unencumbered by the threats of a callous president,” he added.

“This is not only a historic victory for the more than 800,000 people eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, but for all America,” Rep. Jayapal agreed.

Thursday’s ruling was the second time in two years that Roberts and the liberal justices faulted the administration for the way it went about a policy change. Last year, the court forced the administration to back off a citizenship question on the 2020 census.

In total, Ferguson has filed over 60 lawsuits against the Trump administration, winning 29 and losing just one.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

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