One year after immigration promise, Obama seeks Supreme Court backing

Nearly immediately after Obama announced his executive action last November, Texas, OH and 24 other states filed a lawsuit seeking to stop it. In February, Judge Andrew Hanen of U.S. District Court in Brownsville, Texas, entered a preliminary injunction shutting down the program.

There are about 11.3 million undocumented immigrants in the United States today and about 4.3 million would be eligible to receive a few federal and state public benefits as well as work authorization if the Supreme Court rules in their favor. Faced with inaction by the Republican-led Congress, the President took the steps available to him to address a key component of our immigration challenge.

In Friday’s petition, U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli wrote the immigration initiative is of national importance, and if the lower court ruling stands, it would give states the power to frustrate the federal government’s attempts to enforce immigration laws. While we await our day in the Supreme Court, I will continue to call for comprehensive immigration reform that strengthens our economy and demonstrates the compassion that has made this country a source of hope around the world. Two lower courts have since blocked the administration from moving forward with the plans. Republican presidential candidates have said they would dismantle the program, adding urgency to the administration’s efforts to get it started.

“A Syrian child is not going to have an intel record, but precisely for that reason, we believe that this is not the pool of individuals who are most likely to be ISIL operatives”, Rhodes said, using an acronym for the Islamic State group. Under normal circumstances, if the justices are to hear the issue this term, briefing must be completed by mid-winter.

“Appealing to defend the expansion of deferred action is the least the Administration can do on immigration”, said Marisa Franco, director of the #Not1More Campaign that wants to halt deportations.

Texas quickly led a legal challenge to the program, and has won every round in court so far. The Administration should follow its enforcement priorities to keep families together, increase job flexibility for high-skilled workers waiting for their green cards, and strengthen the waiver process to help people who must leave the country to apply for their green cards reenter the United States.

If the Supreme Court reverses the 5th Circuit ruling, millions of undocumented immigrants could finally receive much-needed, temporary relief from deportation.

The drawn-out legal battle weighs heavy on the resolve of a community that has been fighting for immigration reform for the last several decades. This means that authorities will no longer have to deport all illegal immigrants. The court said Texas would be in the position of providing subsidized driver’s licenses for potentially hundreds of thousands of people.

If the supreme court agrees to hear the dispute, it could re-inject the highly contentious issue into a 2016 presidential election in which immigration is already a highly charged and central issue.