In Washington, the federal appeals court announced that President Obama could not move forward with the plan to protect illegal immigrants from being deported. At this time, his administration is surely setting up for an appeal of a lifetime in the Supreme Court next year, to show the overall plan to protect 5 million undocumented immigrants from leaving the U.S.
The three-judge panel gave a 2-to-1 ruling from the United States Court of the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans. The court ruled on a lawsuit that was brought by 26 states to block the administration from succeeding in their plans to go forth. Mr. Obama’s administration implemented a deferred action plan, but the plan’s denial was not unexpected. This decision came after seven months, even after the same court had denied the emergency stay request from the Justice Department.
This ruling was a heavy hit to the agenda for the president and his office in reshaping immigration and the laws that follow with the enforcement. So what this means is that Obama’s signature immigration initiatives will remain on hold for now, a year after he announced it, and now leaves doubt on whether the program will even begin before his term expires in January 2017.
Of course, the Republican presidential hopefuls have also pledged to take the program apart which means the Obama administration needs to get their ducks in a row to get the program approved. The ruling needed to happen so that Obama’s lawyers could appeal the decision so that the Supreme Court can consider the appeal for next year. The hope is that the Supreme Court will overturn the ruling and allow the president to carry out his immigration plan.
A White House official stated, of course, the administration disagreed with the court’s ruling and will be reviewing the options on legal actions. “This lawsuit is preventing people who have been part of our communities for years from working on the books, contributing to our economy by paying taxes on that work, and being held accountable,” stated the official that was not allowed to speak on the record about this.
Attorney General Ken Paxton from Texas made a statement saying, “Today, the Fifth Circuit asserted that the separation of powers remains the law of the land, and the president must follow the rule of law, just like everybody else.” He also stated that “Texas, leading a charge of 26 states, has secured an important victory to put a halt to the president’s lawlessness.” He also continued to say, “Throughout this process, the Obama Administration has aggressively disregarded the constitutional limits on executive power.”
There are advocates in support of the administration. They hope highly for the appeal to go through by next June. “Every single day that goes by means further delays,” said the director of the National Immigration Law Center Marielena Hincapié, who has been following the case very closely. She also states that “Once the green light is given [by the Supreme Court], it will make it that much more difficult for any administration, Republican or Democrat, to undo the program.”
Now it does seem that the Justice Department does agree that something needs to be done. A spokesman for the Justice Department, Patrick Rodenbush, said that the administration would like to resolve the issue quickly so that immigration authorities could put things in order. That would include “the removal of the worst offenders, not people who have long ties to the United States and who are raising American children.”
Image via Flickr/Todd Dwyer, resized
