“If you have the facts on your side, pound the facts,” goes an old legal aphorism. “ If you have the law on your side, pound the law. If you have neither on your side, pound the table.”

Sixteen state attorneys general, all Democrats, have decided to pound the table to stop President Trump from rolling back Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

Their lawsuit in federal court in the Eastern District of New York asserts:

“Rescinding DACA will cause harm to hundreds of thousands of the States’ residents, injure State-run colleges and universities, upset the States’ workplaces, damage the States’ economies, hurt State-based companies, and disrupt the States’ statutory and regulatory interests.”

In other words, people who come into the United States illegally shouldn’t be subject to deportation because they generate economic activity. Drug dealers generate economic activity, too, but I don’t see attorneys general arguing they should, therefore, be able to do their business without restraint. Millions of people from other countries who are overstaying their visas in the United States generate economic activity, but that doesn’t exempt them from the law if they are caught.

Trump has the law on his side because DACA is likely unconstitutional as an overreach of executive authority. Meanwhile, most of the media,  instead of recognizing the illegality of Obama’s action and the need for comprehensive constitutional immigration reform, concentrates on touching stories that suggest supporters of Trump’s decision lack concern for the 800,000 children of illegal immigrants covered by DACA.

Not that any of this matters, of course. Trump, who blasted out his administration’s intention to rescind DACA if Congress doesn’t come up with a legislative alternative within six months, undermined his stern threats when he subsequently tweeted:

“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

So much for Trump’s hard-nosed commitment to principle. And so much for any chance the Democrats will be willing to compromise.