The NAACP announced Monday it filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump for his decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions said two weeks ago the program will be phased out in March, which leaves lawmakers in Washington, D.C., six months to come up with legislation that would serve as a permanent replacement to the 2012 executive order.
NAACP interim president and CEO Derrick Johnson said in a press release his organization is standing up for the thousands of "people of color" who would be affected by the cancellation of the program.
"By establishing DACA, the United States made a promise to protect its most vulnerable residents — young, undocumented immigrants, who are overwhelmingly people of color," Johnson said. "In exchange for providing the government with extensive information about themselves and their families, these young immigrants received this country's assurance that they could build lives for themselves in the United States without fear of prosecution or deportation.
"Now, President Trump has reneged on that promise. By rescinding DACA, President Trump puts hundreds of thousands of lives and livelihoods at risk."
DACA allows people who illegally came to the United States with their parents as children to stay under certain conditions. Trump has urged Congress to pass an official piece of legislation on the matter.
The NAACP claimed the Trump administration's decision to end the program "violated the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment, the Equal Protection Clause of the Fifth Amendment, the Administrative Procedure Act and the Regulatory Flexibility Act."
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