A South Bay lawyer who joined five other plaintiffs Monday in suing the Trump administration over the decision to phase out the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program said that she's confident Congress will do the right thing, but trusts the courts even more.
Dulce Garcia — who specializes in immigration cases and criminal defense — joined other young professionals and students in filing their lawsuit in federal court in San Francisco.
"I think the courts will provide protection for us," Garcia told City News Service. "That was the primary factor driving this. I think the courts will protect our constitutional rights and do what's fair."
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The DACA program, created in 2012 under President Barack Obama, has allowed nearly 800,000 undocumented young people to legally live, work and study in the United States.
The Trump administration's action gives Congress six months to come up with a solution for people illegally brought into the U.S. by their parents when they were children.
"Now that the DACA program has been instituted for five years, (Congress) can see real numbers, they can see progress in our country, they have figures to go by, and they know that it makes economic sense," Garcia said. "So I trust the Legislature very much, I agree that they can get this done, but as an attorney I place a reliance on the courts and I would be remiss if we didn't do something like this."
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Garcia, who was brought to the U.S. by her parents at the age of 4 and grew up in San Diego, called the plaintiffs "a group of amazing people." They include a doctoral candidate in clinical psychology, a Harvard public health student, a UC Irvine law student and two schoolteachers.
They're asking the court to block the DACA decision. Numerous other lawsuits challenging the end of DACA have been filed, including by the state of California and University of California system.
