Undocumented immigrants uneasy over federal court ruling

The case has been tied up in the courts for almost a year, keeping millions of undocumented immigrants in legal limbo as they await the fate of a program that would have granted them deportation relief and temporary legal status. “We have waited far to long already and we call on the Supreme Court to review this case without further delay”, said Marielena Hincapié, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center.

The implementation of the executive action of the President seems unlikely as it received a 2-1 decision from New Orleans’ 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Obama’s edict, which he dubbed the “Deferred Action for Parental Arrivals” (DAPA) granted a three-year amnesty to 5 million illegal immigrants on the basis that they had children here in the U.S. This provided incentive for illegals to have anchor babies, children that are considered American citizens by virtue of their birth, even if their parents refuse to assimilate or participate.

Republican Chuck Grassley, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the ruling showed “the Obama administration does not have unfettered authority to execute whatever it wants”.

“I was hoping to have DAPA to see (my mother) before she died”, said Soria, who cleans houses in Escondido. Supporters of Obama’s plan to make immigration changes predict the U.S. Supreme Court will rule in his favor.

After a federal appeals court blocked President Obama’s initiative to protect millions undocumented immigrants from deportation, parents, like Antonio Campos, may be forced to leave their children who are American citizens.

She said, however, that “federal courts should not inject themselves into such matters of prosecutorial discretion”.

“I was really disappointed when I heard the news”, said Gonzalez of Monday’s ruling against the president’s plan by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

“We strongly disagree with the Fifth Circuit’s decision”.

Paxton said that the Obama administration had “aggressively disregarded the constitutional limits on executive power”.

Though administration officials have remained adamant that they will ultimately prevail before the Supreme Court, the strength of their legal arguments will not be the only issue – instead their greatest hurdle will be time.

It acknowledged that an adverse ruling would discourage potential beneficiaries of DAPA from cooperating with law enforcement authorities or paying taxes. “But those are burdens that Congress knowingly created, and it is not our place to second-guess those decisions”, U.S. Circuit Judge Jerry Smith wrote for the majority.

“Although there are approximately 11.3 million removable aliens in this country today, for the last several years Congress has provided the Department of Homeland Security with only enough resources to remove approximately 400,000 of those aliens per year”, wrote King, who was appointed by Democratic President Jimmy Carter.

“The last thing I would lose is hope”, Guzman said.