Supreme Court sets election-year clash on immigration

The high court announced Tuesday that it will hear a case brought by Texas and co-signed by 25 states on the administration’s programs to shield millions of immigrants living in the USA without permission from deportation, and allow many to qualify for legal work status. The case probably will be argued in April and decided by late June, about a month before both parties’ presidential nominating conventions.

The State of Texas has taken the lead in the effort to block the President’s orders from taking effect. A favorable ruling for the administration would give Obama a chance to implement the program before he leaves office, the Washington Post reports.

The Supreme Court case directly concerns only people affected by Obama’s second executive order, called ‘Deferred Action for Parents of Americans, ‘ an indefinite deportation delay for illegal immigrants whose children were born inside the United States.

The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had blocked the program in November.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has been leading the charge in court against the Obama administration, said that the unilateral actions are unconstitutional and that the administration also violated the Administrative Procedures Act, a law that sets forth how federal agencies can establish regulations.

Paxton said the programs represent one of the “largest changes in immigration policy in our Nation’s history” and that the state has the standing to bring the case in part because it will bear the burden and cost of issuing additional driver’s licenses.

Immigration has become a hot button issue on the campaign trail as presidential candidates differ on how to handle the country’s some 11 million illegal immigrants.

About 235,000 people were deported in the federal fiscal year that ended September 30, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

The executive actions would only allow DREAMers or immigrants who have children who are USA citizens stay in the US legally.

Still, the administration drew criticism from Democrats and immigration advocates for raids this month that resulted in the arrest of more than 120 immigrants from Central America who came to the country illegally since 2014.