ImmigrationAdministration asks Supreme Court to uphold president’s executive action on immigration
One year ago, the administration announced a sweeping initiative to protect some five million undocumented immigrants from deportation for three years and grant them work permits. A coalition of twenty-six Republican-led states challenged the executive action, and earlier this month the challenge was upheld by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. On Friday, the Obama administration formally asked the Supreme Court to uphold the president’s executive action. In a televised address to the nation, the president said: “We are and always will be a nation of immigrants.”
On Friday, the Obama administration formally asked the Supreme Court to uphold the president’s executive action from last year, and action aimed to shield some five million undocumented immigrants from deportation for three years, and grant them work permit for the duration.
A decision last month by a federal court left the initiative in limbo.
In its submission to the court, the administration argued that a coalition of twenty-six Republican-led states which sued the administration over the president’s plan had no legal standing to challenge the president’s executive actions and that the president was within his rights to defer deportation for certain groups of immigrants.
“It [the challenge] will force millions of people — who are not removal priorities under criteria the court conceded are valid, and who are parents of U.S. citizens and permanent residents — to continue to work off the books, without the option of lawful employment to provide for their families,” the solicitor general, Donald Verrilli, wrote in the filing.
Yahoo News reports that immigration advocacy groups on Friday marked the anniversary of Obama’s executive action with rallies near the Supreme Court and the White House. Speakers at the rallies called on the administration to stop carrying out deportations.
In their challenge to Obama’s executive action, the coalition of Republican-led states argued that the president had exceeded his authority by going around Congress and acting unilaterally.
In February, a federal judge in Texas issued an injunction on the executive action, temporarily blocking its implementation as the challenge made its way through the courts (“Federal judge in Texas temporarily blocks Obama’s executive order,” HSNW, 18 February 2015). Two weeks ago, the conservative Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which sits in New Orleans, upheld the injunction (“Court again blocks implementation of Obama’s executive order on immigration,” HSNW, 10 November 2015).
After the Fifth Court of Appel’ decision, the administration said it intended to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.
