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A federal judge has ordered Donald Trump’s administration to turn over all documents pertaining to his decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and leaving 800,000 undocumented immigrant youth vulnerable to deportation. The order includes “emails, letters, memos and other materials.” Initially, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III sent a one-page memo to the Department of Homeland Security explaining why—DACA was “an open-ended circumvention of immigration laws that was an unconstitutional exercise of authority by the Executive Branch,” America’s most racist Keebler elf claimed—but the judge says that’s just not enough of an explanation:
The order by U.S. District Judge William Alsup, based in San Francisco, also appears to cover legal advice about winding down the program, which grants quasi-legal status and work permits to so-called Dreamers.
Acting in a series of lawsuits filed over the decision, the judge said the administration had waived its attorney-client privilege by claiming the decision was driven by concerns that the program is unconstitutional.
“Defendants argue that [the Department of Homeland Security] had to rescind DACA because it exceeded the lawful authority of the agency,” Alsup wrote. “They cannot, therefore, simultaneously refuse to disclose the legal research that led to that conclusion. Plaintiffs are entitled to challenge whether this was a reasonable legal position and thus reasonable basis for rescission. In making that challenge, plaintiffs are entitled to review the internal analyses that led up to this change in position.”
Well, about that: During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly claimed that DACA was illegal. Based on what legal grounds? The former host of Celebrity Apprentice and creator of Trump Steaks never explained.
We do know that earlier this year law experts from Harvard Law, Rutgers Law, Yale Law, and 100 others attested that the program is indeed “a lawful exercise of prosecutorial discretion,” surely carrying more weight than any print-out certificate from Trump University. But in the final hours before Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III announced DACA’s end, Trump was listening to the advice of real-life Dwight Schrute, Sean Hannity, instead of the legal scholars who were urging him to continue the program, which he could have done.
“At the same time, the judge demanded that the administration supply all materials considered by former DHS Secretary John Kelly—now the White House chief of staff—when he decided in a February memo to leave the program intact,” notes Politico. Judge Alsup wants answers. And so do we.