Alaska attorney general signs on to Supreme Court brief supporting Trump plan to end DACA

The attorney general of Alaska joined 12 other states in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the Trump administration’s decision to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as DACA.

In a “friend of the court” brief filed Tuesday by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the states argue that the program is unlawful and should be terminated because it “inflicts ongoing irreparable harm."

Paxton said in a statement that DACA constitutes a “lawless exercise of executive power.”

Alaska joined Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota, West Virginia and Mississippi in signing on to the filing.

The brief argues that the states are harmed because they “‘bear the costs of providing ... social services required by federal law,’ including health care, education, and law-enforcement,” to the recipients of DACA.

In 2017, a total of approximately 70 recipients of DACA lived in Alaska, according to data from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Montana and Vermont were the only states with fewer DACA recipients at the time.

Cori Mills, a spokeswoman for the Alaska Department of Law, said Attorney General Kevin Clarkson was unavailable to comment on the reasoning behind Alaska’s involvement of the brief Wednesday afternoon.