Throwing everything against the (yet-to-be-built) wall in hopes that something will stick, a coalition of U.S. businesses claims Texas\u2019s lawsuit against DACA will cost the state $6 billion.<\/p>\n
Who knew that Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals was such a cash cow?<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the face of DACA rescission \u2026 immigrant communities in Texas are increasingly holding back from economic activity, focusing instead on saving to protect their families from the economic trauma in the form of job loss and legal fees that comes with deportation proceedings,\u201d the corporate consortium argued in a federal court brief<\/a> filed late Saturday.<\/p>\n The 114 businesses \u2013 including Southwest and United Airlines, Amazon, Uber and Verizon \u2013 estimate that 126,000 of 689,000 illegal aliens protected under former President Barack Obama\u2019s DACA program reside in Texas. From that estimate, the companies draw the following outrageous conclusions:<\/p>\n The corporatists use a thin tissue of anecdotes to fabricate their speculative assertions. In fact, DACA recipients are neither as well-educated nor financially independent<\/a> as they have been presented in the media. More than a few have <\/span>dangerous criminal records<\/a>, which come with heavy social and economic costs.<\/span><\/p>\n It is unclear where or how the business coalition derived its data, but the \u201cresearch\u201d seems to rest on the illogical assumption that the economic output of DACA recipients would simply disappear and not be replaced by others in the country who would perform the jobs and pay the taxes.<\/p>\n We can agree with the business coalition on one point, however: Texas and other opposing states did not move soon enough<\/em> against DACA.<\/p>\n “The states’ delay undercuts any claim they have to immediate, irreparable injury, since they have been living with the status quo for six years,\u201d the brief contends.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s a clever argument, and given the standard for an injunction, it could carry sway with the court,\u201d says Rich Kelsey, a former law dean at George Mason University and frequent writer on immigration issues.<\/p>\n Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton responded, \u201cTexas has argued for years that the federal executive branch lacks the power to unilaterally grant unlawfully present aliens lawful presence and work authorization.<\/p>\n \u201cLeft intact, DACA sets a dangerous precedent by giving the executive branch sweeping authority to ignore the laws enacted by Congress and change our nation\u2019s immigration laws to suit a president\u2019s own policy preferences.”<\/p>\n Whatever its economic implications, the DACA is bad law that tears at the foundations of border security and national sovereignty. As Paxton put it: \u201cOur lawsuit is about the rule of law, not the wisdom of any particular immigration policy.\u201d \n