New Jersey to Join Lawsuit to Protect DACA 'Dreamers'
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy says the state will join New York and 14 other states in challenging President Donald Trump's decision to pull back from the "Dreamers" policy.
January 24, 2018 at 05:16 PM
2 minute read
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy speaking at his inauguration as governor of New Jersey. Photo: Carmen Natale/ALM
Newly elected New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy says the state will join New York and 14 other states in challenging President Donald Trump's decision to pull back from the “Dreamers” policy, which provides protection from deportation for some 800,000 undocumented aliens who were brought into the United States illegally by their parents as children.
Murphy, a Democrat who was sworn into office earlier this month, announced the expected decision at an appearance Wednesday with state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal.
“We stand by our immigrant families,” Murphy said. “It's way past time New Jersey punched its weight.”
It's a policy change that comes with the change in administration: In 2015, then-Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, had joined with other GOP governors in a lawsuit that sought to have the program declared void.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration in September challenging Trump's decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which was established by President Barack Obama in 2012.
“The Trump administration's decision to end DACA is cruel, inhumane, and devastating to [those] who have been able to come out of the shadows and live a full life as a result of the program,” Schneiderman said in a statement in September. “These Dreamers play by the rules. They work hard and pay taxes. America is the only home they have ever known—and they deserve to stay here.”
A majority of people, about 78 percent, who are protected by DACA are natives of Mexico, according to Schneiderman's lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
Connecticut, Massachusetts, Virginia, Oregon, North Carolina, Washington, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Hawaii, New Mexico, Iowa, Rhode Island, Delaware and the District of Columbia have since signed on to New York's action.
There are about 22,000 “dreamers” in New Jersey, the Murphy administration said.
Trump announced his decision to end the program in September, but delayed implementation for six months to allow time for Congress to decide how to deal with dreamers. Congress must act by March or the program will end, and those currently protected may then by subject to deportation.
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