Government files motion to dismiss Princeton’s DACA lawsuit

The Department of Homeland Security filed a motion last week to dismiss the lawsuit Princeton University, a Princeton undergraduate and Microsoft Corp. had filed to block the rescission of the DACA.“Even if Plaintiffs’ challenge were somehow justiciable, the assumption underlying it would compel dismissal,” said the motion to dismiss, which was filed November 22. “This case should be dismissed.”The DHS argued that the plaintiff’s legal argument was based upon an incorrect reading of the Constitution and other federal laws; furthermore, Princeton and Microsoft did not have legal standing to sue in the case, the government claimed.“The Rescission Policy does not regulate them, require them to do (or refrain from doing) anything, or restrict them in any way,” the motion to dismiss said. “The unavoidable reality that any enforcement of immigration laws will inevitably have some unintended or derivative effects does not provide carte blanche to challenge such enforcement decisions whenever there is a disagreement about federal immigration policy.”Princeton and the other plaintiffs filed the suit earlier this month in Washington, D.C. district court, claiming that the Trump administration had violated procedural law and civil rights by planning to end the Obama administration’s DACA policy.The DACA program, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, allowed undocumented immigrants who came to the country as minors and fulfilled other requirements to obtain protection from deportation. The Trump administration announced in September that the program would be phased out, although President Trump called on Congress to pass DACA as a law.The plaintiffs are required to file a response to the motion to dismiss by December 15. A motion on preliminary matters in the case will be held on January 31 in the district courthouse in Washington.