The University of California on Friday filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program.

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California Master Beekeeper Program announces first ‘Master Beekeeper’ The administration, which announced this week it would wind down the program that has offered deportation relief and work permits to some 800,000 young people brought to the United States illegally, is violating the rights of UC students by rescinding DACA, the suit argues.

UC President Janet Napolitano helped create DACA in 2012 while she served as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security under former President Barack Obama. Friday’s lawsuit is the first to be filed by a university, although a number of state attorneys general have promised to file similar suits, as well.

“Neither I, nor the University of California, take the step of suing the federal government lightly, especially not the very agency that I led,” Napolitano said in a statement announcing the suit. “It is imperative, however, that we stand up for these vital members of the UC community. They represent the best of who we are — hard working, resilient and motivated high achievers. To arbitrarily and capriciously end the DACA program, which benefits our country as a whole, is not only unlawful, it is contrary to our national values and bad policy.”

California is home to some 220,000 DACA recipients, thousands of whom attend and work at UC campuses. The system argues it will lose “vital members of its community” if DACA is discontinued.

“They’ve grown up here, gotten their educations here, many of them don’t even speak the language of the country to which they would be deported if this decision were allowed to stand,” Napolitano said during a call Friday morning with reporters.

Critics of DACA say the Obama administration overstepped its authority with an executive action that gave false hope to hundreds of thousands of undocumented young people brought to the country as children. Shortly after Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ announcement that Trump was ending the program, the president took to Twitter to encourage Congress to “legalize” the program or he will revisit the issue.

Congress now has 6 months to legalize DACA (something the Obama Administration was unable to do). If they can't, I will revisit this issue! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 6, 2017

Napolitano said the administration failed to properly assess the cost to schools and DACA recipients of rescinding the program.

“I think that the administration’s approach in rescinding DACA was the opposite of reasoned decision making, and thus is unlawful,” Napolitano said on the call.

In addition to the suit, Napolitano this week sent a letter to congressional leaders urging them to pass legislation preserving DACA.

Her team will press the court to move “expeditiously,” Napolitano said, but she also urged DACA recipients whose status is set to expire before the administration’s March cutoff to apply for renewal by the Oct. 5 deadline.