A year later, DACA-backer Garcetti urges Supreme Court hear case

U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli wrote in the petition that the Supreme Court should hear the case because the appeals court “upheld an unprecedented nationwide injunction against implementing a federal immigration enforcement policy of great national importance”.

The program, announced in November 2014, applies to people whose children are either US citizens or legal permanent residents and who meet other requirements.

The appeal injects the Supreme Court into a dispute between 26 mainly Republican-led states and the Democratic administration, amid a presidential race in which immigration already has been a flashpoint. The government may not be able to head that off, but it also would retain an option to formally ask the Court to expedite its review in order to have it decided this Term, which is likely to end in late June. We should recognize the remarkable spirit of Latino immigrants, reward their hard work and shame those who scapegoat them for political gains. Twenty-six states challenged the plan in court. The justices will consider whether to hear the case once they receive responses from the states, due within 30 days.

Migrant organizers say they are prepared to mount more pressure on the Supreme Court to swing the decision in their favor.

One family at the Supreme Court rally will be Madai and Jose Ledezma, a Mexican couple from Maryland whose 7-year-old daughter was born in the United States. Immigration reform and at least these executive actions were important to President Obama’s second term goals and legacy and the injunction has been a blow to his plans. The Administration appealed to the Fifth Circuit, asking for permission to begin running the program even as the case goes to a full trial.

The program was initially halted in February by U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen of Brownsville, who ruled the administration didn’t comply with the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs how federal regulations are made. But it also reaffirms what the president and his supporters have argued since previous year: That President Obama has the authority to amend immigration laws through executive actions. “It bars approximately 4 million parents – who have lived in this country for years, would pass a background check, are not priorities for removal and have a son or daughter who is a USA citizen or lawful permanent resident – from requesting deferred action… and receiving authorization to work lawfully”. The court ruled that President Obama had overreached his authority in issuing the orders.

“Finally, President Obama’s lawless refusal to enforce the law is meeting its match in the courts”, she said.