California joins 15 states taking legal action against Donald Trump over decision to cut 'Dreamers' programme

Attorney General Xavier Becerra says President's unpopular decision to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy will hit his state hardest

President Donald Trump speaks about tax reform (AP)

California’s Attorney General says a separate lawsuit he plans to file over the Donald Trump administration’s plan to end protections for young immigrants will mirror the legal arguments made in a suit already filed by 15 states and the District of Columbia.

Attorney General Xavier Becerra, a Democrat, said on Wednesday he is going ahead with his own lawsuit because one in four participants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programme lives in California and the state will suffer the greatest harm from its termination. He says he’ll file the suit soon.

Becerra says he’s been talking with fellow attorneys general for months about what to do if DACA is terminated and that the legal grounds of his case will be similar to the one filed earlier in the day by the other states.

That lawsuit calls the move by Trump an unconstitutional culmination of his commitments to punish people with Mexican roots.

Becerra says ending DACA will harm the people it protects along with California’s economy and higher education system.

The 15 states filed a lawsuit in New York led by Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who called Trump’s act “a dark time for our country.”

Plaintiffs include New York, Massachusetts, Washington, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia.

On Tuesday, US Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the programme will end in six months to give Congress time to find a legislative solution for the immigrants.

The participants were brought to the US illegally as children or came with families who overstayed visas.

AP