Today, the NAACP filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration for their decision to repeal DACA. The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Joseph Sellers, a partner with Cohen Millstein, is assisting us with the lawsuit. This action alleges that by repealing the DACA Program, the President and the Attorney General and others working with them harmed persons registered with, and those who simply applied to, the DACA Program. The NAACP is bringing this suit on behalf of those members who registered with, or simply applied to, the DACA Program.
This suit makes the following claims. First, the lawsuit alleges that by repealing the DACA Program, the Administration violated the Due Process rights of the Program registrants and applicants. The claim alleges that, at the time the Program was established, it induced all applicants to provide confidential information about their undocumented immigration status and means of reaching them and their families with the assurance that it would not deport them or use the information provided for that purpose. The repeal of the DACA program withdrew the assurance against deportation that originally led the undocumented children to disclose their immigration status and contact information but retained access to and use of the contact information which will enhance the ability to deport the registrants and applicants. By reneging on the promise not to deport the DACA registrants, which had led the DACA participants to disclose incriminating information about their immigration status, the Administration induced them to incriminate themselves in violation of the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Additionally, the suit alleges that the process used to repeal the DACA Program violated the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs when and how federal rules may be issued, amended and repealed. The Act provides that federal rules that substantially affect the substantive rights of people must be published for comment by the public and, after considering those comments, published again along with any revisions warranted by the comments before they can take effect. The Administration did not follow this procedure and, therefore, the repeal of the DACA Program constitutes an illegal rulemaking.
Finally, the suit seeks as remedies the legal finding that the repeal of the DACA Program violated the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Constitution and the Administrative Procedure Act. It also seeks as a remedy that the Court order the Administration to reinstate the DACA Program and reinstate the protections against use of the immigration and contact information obtained from the Program applications to deport the registrants and any members of their families.
Janette M. Louard
Deputy General Counsel
NAACP National Headquarters