Oklahoma joins immigration lawsuit

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – Attorney General Scott Pruitt is adding Oklahoma to the list of 20 states suing President Barack Obama over his executive action to spare from deportation nearly 5 million people living in the U.S. illegally.

Pruitt announced Tuesday that Oklahoma would join the multistate lawsuit filed in federal district court in Texas.

In a statement, Pruitt said the president’s executive actions are "unlawful and unconstitutional."

Texas is leading a coalition of states suing the government. It argues in the lawsuit filed last week that Obama’s decision "tramples" key portions of the Constitution. The states are seeking to block the president’s actions.

Pruitt campaigned on states’ rights and has created a federalism unit in his office to push back against what he has described as "government overreach."