US Senator Mike Rounds had an editorial piece on Sunday in the Washington Examiner explaining why President Trump had to act to rescind DACA (otherwise known as the Dreamer’s executive Order), and why returning the issue to Congress to make a decision is a return to the rule of law:
President Trump’s recent decision to rescind an Obama executive action known as Deferred Action of Children of Immigrants was an attempt to avoid “potentially imminent litigation” that even its supporters concede could have resulted in the courts rescinding the order. This underscores the importance of going through the proper constitutional channels when making policy changes.
DACA granted legal status to nearly a million undocumented immigrants who were brought over by their parents when they were children. Obama was right when he said publicly more than 20 times before signing the order that the executive branch did not have the authority to implement such a change in our immigration policy. A former Constitutional Law professor himself, Obama knew that such a dramatic policy change could only be authorized by the legislative branch of government.
and…
In June of this year, a number of state attorneys general wrote to Attorney General Jeff Sessions alerting him that they planned to add DACA to the DAPA litigation. In response, the Trump administration announced earlier this month that the administration would wind down DACA.
In rescinding DACA, Trump fulfilled his constitutional duty to return this significant policy decision to its rightful place: with Congress. The ball is now in our court, and I believe it is our duty to take action. By giving us six months to act, Trump has given us ample opportunity to lawfully make necessary changes to the legal status of undocumented children and prevent them from being held in judicial limbo.
They deserve the certainty that no executive action can provide, no matter how well-intended. That can only be done through codified law passed by Congress and implemented by the administration.
The short version was that the federal government was looking at a lawsuit they knew they were going to lose. And any fix needed to be done according to the book.