ICYMI: Associated Press: Top California Lawyer Gives Insight into Trump Policy Fight

Thursday, January 10, 2019
Contact: (916) 210-6000, agpressoffice@doj.ca.gov

By Sudhin Thanawala

When President Donald Trump revoked protections for young immigrants known as “Dreamers,” California’s top prosecutor, Attorney General Xavier Becerra, turned to a member of his office’s civil rights section to craft the state’s legal response.

On Sept. 11, 2017, less than a week after the president’s decision, California filed a federal lawsuit accusing the Trump administration of trying to push the 800,000 immigrants who benefited from the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program “back into the shadows of American life.” The suit helped lead to the first nationwide court order requiring the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to continue DACA for existing enrollees.

Becerra has been among the most aggressive of the Democratic state attorneys general who have battled Trump in court. Since former Gov. Jerry Brown appointed him to the job two years ago, Becerra has taken on the Trump administration in nearly 100 briefs and other legal actions, including 45 lawsuits filed mostly over immigration, the environment and health care and often joined by other attorneys general.

Read the full article here.

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