FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEWS ADVISORY
January 26, 2018
Steve Marshall
For More Information, contact:
Mike Lewis (334) 353-2199
Alabama Attorney General
Joy Patterson (334) 242-7491
Page 1 of 1
ATTORNEY GENERAL STEVE MARSHALL JOINS U.S. SUPREME COURT BRIEF
IN SUPPORT OF TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S PLAN TO PHASE OUT DACA
(MONTGOMERY) – Attorney General Steve Marshall joined a coalition of 13 states Thursday in
filing a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court urging it to reject a lower court ruling blocking the
Trump administration from ending the unlawful Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
(DACA) program.
DACA, which was implemented by an Obama administration memo in 2012, usurped the
authority of Congress to determine immigration policy by granting legal presence and work
eligibility to hundreds of thousands of otherwise unlawfully present aliens.
In September, the Trump administration announced it would phase out DACA, recognizing
that only Congress has the legal authority to decide whether programs like DACA should
become law. However, a California federal court intervened earlier this month in a ruling that
blocked the Trump administration from terminating DACA.
“I joined 12 other states in filing a friend of the court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court this
week supporting the legal right of the Trump administration to phase out DACA,” said
Attorney General Steve Marshall. “Furthermore, we have made it clear that the Obama-era
DACA program is a violation of the Constitution and our coalition of states is prepared to file a
lawsuit challenging its legality if the Trump administration is prevented from ending it.
“We call on the Supreme Court to overturn the lower court’s flawed ruling and allow the
Trump administration to reverse course and return decision making over immigration policy to
Congress.”
Alabama joined the attorneys general of Texas, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana,
Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota and West Virginia, and the governors of Mississippi
and Maine in filing the amicus brief Thursday.
A copy of the brief can be found here.
–30–
501 Washington Avenue * Montgomery, AL 36104 * (334) 242-7300
www.ago.alabama.gov
