A group of 15 states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit [complaint, PDF] Wednesday challenging the Trump administration’s decision to end [press release] the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) [USCIS materials] program. DACA provides protection [Reuters report] from deportation to undocumented immigrants, often called “Dreamers,” who were brought to the US as children. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman [official website] released a statement [official statement] on Tuesday vowing to sue the president to protect the young immigrants. Schneiderman proclaimed that “[the Dreamers] played by the rules. They pay their taxes. And they’ve earned the right to stay in the only home they have ever known.”

The Trump administration’s decision to disband [CNN report] DACA will affect nearly 800,000 young undocumented immigrants. No new undocumented immigrants may register [JURIST report] under DACA, and the immigrants whose DACA documents are about to expire must renew by October 5, 2017. According to the administration’s press release, current DACA recipients generally will not be impacted until after March 5, 2018, which will give “Congress the opportunity to consider appropriate legislative solutions.” The American Civil Liberties Union [advocacy website] director of immigration policy, Lorella Praeli, said [press release], “Today is a cruel day for Dreamers, our families, and all Americans.”