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Just over a week ago, on November 24, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said the “odds were in favor” of the state suing the federal government to stop President Obama’s executive action on immigration. Wednesday afternoon, the governor-elect cashed that bet, announcing that he’d been joined by 16 other states in filing a lawsuit in U.S. District Court.
“The president’s job is to enforce the law, not to make them,” Abbott said.
Allowing certain undocumented persons who’ve been in the United States for more than five years to work and live in the country without the threat of deportation would cause irreparable damage to Texas, Abbott says. The state has already incurred tremendous costs from DACA, President Obama’s program that allows individuals who were brought to the United States illegally as children to stay in the country, so it has unique standing to challenge the executive action.
See also: Texas Likely to Sue Obama Over Immigration
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The states are not seeking monetary damages, only a declaratory judgement that the president’s action is unconstitutional and cannot be enforced.
