US Supreme Court Split Decision on Immigration ‘Frustrating’ – Obama

“This all about politics for our opponents, but for the millions of immigrant families in Texas, it’s personal”, Elsa Caballero, president of Service Employees International Union, which frequently advocates for undocumented immigrants, said in a statement.

Obama had long said he didn’t have the executive authority to expand his first deferred action program, telling activists they should focused their attention on pressure Congress, not the White House.

Obama, reacting from the White House on Thursday, called the decision “heartbreaking” for millions of immigrants who want to work in the US and contribute to the economy.

President Obama’s executive order effectively would have given amnesty to millions of undocumented immigrants. The administration had hoped that at least one conservative justice – possibly Chief Justice John Roberts – would determine the plan would not financially harm the states and could not be challenged in court.

While the Supreme Court’s decision on Thursday isn’t a ruling, it does deal a blow to the Obama administration because it leaves millions of people who might have benefited from the proposed programs in legal limbo.

The court, with four conservative justices and four liberals, appeared divided along ideological lines during oral arguments on April 18.

Speaking at City Hall, Mayor de Blasio said the decision “feels like a step away from our values” and mirrored the president’s calls to not be deterred in seeking reform.

A frustrated President Barack Obama on Thursday decried the Supreme Court’s decision not to lift an injunction against his signature immigration program and blamed Republicans for standing in the way of progress, as he and other Democrats vowed to turn immigration into a election litmus test.

“For more than two decades now our immigration system, everybody acknowledges, has been broken”, Obama said.

The case now returns to its original venue, US District Judge Andrew Hanen’s Brownsville, Texas, courtroom. Shortly afterward 26 Republican Governors and Attorneys General, including Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, filed suit to block the program. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed, and the Justice Department rushed an appeal to the high court.

Obama said deadlock is “heartbreaking” and “frustrating” for the more than 4 million people who could have benefitted from the program.

Mr Obama urged voters to consider the immigration policies of the presidential candidates when casting their votes in November’s election to pick his successor. “Or whether we’re going to give them a chance, just like our forebears had a chance, to take responsibility and give their kids a better future”. But it does halt the government’s plan to normalize their presence, at least temporarily, by granting them authorization to work.