NEW YORK _ President Donald Trump's disparaging remarks about Mexicans, some of whom he referred to as "bad hombres" and "rapists," were included in a lawsuit by a group of more than a dozen states challenging his decision to end a program protecting so-called Dreamers from deportation.
The lawsuit seeks to block Trump's plan to roll back a program used by about 800,000 undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children. About three-quarters of the young people are Mexicans.
Ending the program "is a culmination of President's Trump's oft-stated commitments _ whether personally held, stated to appease some portion of his constituency, or some combination thereof _ to punish and disparage people with Mexican roots," according to the lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court in Brooklyn, New York by attorneys general from 15 states plus the District of Columbia.
Trump's decision violates Equal Protection and Due Process clauses of the Fifth Amendment, as well as the federal Administrative Procedures Act, attorneys general from 15 states, plus the District of Columbia, said in the lawsuit. It also threatens to harm companies' and states' economic interests, according to the lawsuit.
The administration will end President Barack Obama's 2012 policy directive, formally known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, in six months, giving Congress time to pass legislation to protect the program's beneficiaries, called Dreamers. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, in announcing the action Tuesday, described Obama's initiative as an "unconstitutional exercise of authority by the executive branch."
The White House didn't immediately respond to a call seeking comment. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration policy, declined to comment.
The attorneys general pointed out ways that losing DACA will negatively impact the states as well the Dreamers, including losing their eligibility for health insurance _ which reduces state health insurance bills _ and access to colleges with in-state admissions preferences and tuition.
"Throughout the country, DACA grantees are employed by various companies and state and municipal agencies, which benefit from their skills and productivity," the attorneys general said. "DACA grantees also contribute significantly to state and local revenues and tax bases."
In announcing his campaign in 2015, Trump compared undocumented Mexican immigrants to rapists and drug smugglers, according to the lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court in Brooklyn, New York. The states cited several such examples, copying a tactic used in their challenges to Trump's travel ban, which quoted Trump's negative comments about Muslims.
"The Mexican government is much smarter, much sharper, much more cunning. And they send the bad ones over because they don't want to pay for them," Trump is quoted as saying at a Republican presidential debate later in 2015. "They don't want to take care of them."
The states' lawsuit also seeks to block the government from using any personal information that Dreamers provided as part of the DACA program to target them for deportation.
At a rally Tuesday in Manhattan, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman shouted into a microphone as he promised the lawsuit against Trump, eliciting prolonged cheers from a few thousand immigrants and supporters. He said the DACA program had allowed people "to come out of the shadows" and pay taxes.
"They are not the enemy. They represent the best of the American dream," Schneiderman said. "I will go to court to protect our Dreamers and protect our values."
Elizabeth Mendez of New York, said she went to the rally to support her husband and close friends who are Dreamers. Getting DACA protection for her husband, who is from Mexico, "was the best feeling in the world," allowing him to open a small business and buy a house, Mendez said.
"You can't even put a price on that, not having the stress of thinking ICE is going to come knocking on your door," said Mendez, 32, referring to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
