MONTGOMERY – Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall welcomed the Trump Administration’s decision Tuesday to end the unlawful Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program which was implemented by an Obama administration memo in 2012.
The DACA program, which granted legal presence and work eligibility to hundreds of thousands of otherwise unlawfully present aliens, usurped the authority of Congress and faced legal challenge by a coalition of ten states including Alabama.
“I am proud that U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions agreed with me that the DACA program is ‘an unconstitutional exercise of authority by the Executive Branch,’” said Attorney General Marshall. “Only Congress has the authority to make U.S. immigration law.
“The Trump Administration’s action is a victory for the Constitution and the rule of law and it restores Congress’s rightful role in overseeing U.S. immigration policy. Only the Legislative Branch of the Federal government can decide whether programs like DACA should become immigration law. That question is now back in the hands of Congress.”
On June 29, 2017, Attorney General Marshall joined a coalition of ten state Attorneys General asking the Trump administration to end the unlawful DACA program by September 5, 2017, or face a legal challenge.
