Supreme Court Ruling On Immigration Would Be Felt In Wisconsin

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, said courts have long recognized the limits to presidential authority.

The elevation of the protest to the Supreme Court level follows a series of setbacks for the program: In February, a Texas Federal District Court entered a preliminary injunction, and was later affirmed in November appeal by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans.

Some observers see the Supreme Court’s decision to review Obama’s power under the Constitution as a potentially ominous sign.

While supporters of DAPA say it will allow Wisconsin immigrants to come out of the shadows and work legally to support their families, Dave Gorak of the Midwest Coalition to Reduce Immigration says there are already too many US citizens without work. White House officials said Tuesday that the steps taken by Mr. Obama on immigration were “consistent with the actions taken by presidents of both parties” and expressed optimism that the court would agree. The Obama administration has been seeking to vindicate his 2014 executive action that, in the face of congressional refusal to address comprehensive immigration reform, deferred deportation for millions of undocumented immigrants.

Texas led a legal challenge to the initiative and was soon joined by more than two dozen other Republican-leaning states.

Denise Gilman, director of the UT immigration clinic, which represents low-income immigrants in immigration and federal courts, said legal precedents on prosecutorial discretion favor the Obama administration. Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton has pledged to go further than Obama to protect large groups of immigrants from deportation.

The Supreme Court signaled Tuesday that it wants to answer the question of whether the president’s executive order violates the constitutional clause that says the president “shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed”. The other is an expansion of the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) which focuses on teenagers and young adults who were born outside of the USA but raised in the country.

Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA) and lawful permanent residents is another issue.

“We are pleased with the decison of the Supreme Court”.

The administration, fearing that the program could remain frozen through the balance of Mr. Obamas presidency, had asked the court to move quickly.

The justices’ decision could decide the fate of undocumented immigrants totaling an estimated 1.65 million in Texas, 60,000 in Arkansas and 55,000 in Louisiana, not to mention up to 3.4 million more elsewhere in the nation.

The Workers Defense Project applauded the court’s decision to review the case.

Amparo would have been one of almost 5 million undocumented immigrants to gain temporary relief from deportation under President Obama’s executive order on immigration.

In the amicus brief to the Supreme Court, the states argue that the lower courts erred in concluding that the immigration directives would harm states.

“I think we really need to crack down on the immigration”, said Gridley resident, Mark Bounds.

A federal judge in South Texas temporarily blocked the order one day before it would have taken effect.