Split Grows on Obama’s Immigrant Tack

Wall Street Journal

By Nathan Koppel

January 25, 2015

Split Grows on Obama’s Immigrant Tack

A growing number of cities and states have gotten involved in a federal lawsuit challenging President Barack Obama ’s authority over immigration matters.

The suit was filed in December in Brownsville, Texas, by officials in 17 states, who say the president violated the Constitution last year when he announced an executive action on immigration that would give an estimated 4 million people in the U.S. illegally the chance to gain work permits and remain in the country. The suit seeks an order blocking the immigration changes from taking effect.

The White House has said the president’s executive action is legal and well within his authority to set priorities over immigration matters.

Dozens of cities and states have entered the litigation in recent weeks, both to contest and defend the president’s immigration plan—an unusually high level of activity in a trial proceeding that underscores the stakes involved, according to legal experts.

“It shows that the nation’s attention is focused on the litigation,” said Denise Gilman, who teaches immigration law at the University of Texas School of Law.

On Monday, the mayors of more than 30 cities, including Bill de Blasio of New York and Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles, plan to file a brief that claims the immigration changes serve the public interest.

“Delaying implementation of the President’s executive action will further hurt our families, negatively impact our economies, and create unnecessary insecurity in our communities,” Mr. de Blasio said in a statement Friday announcing the filing.

Leaders in 12 states, including California, New York and Washington, and the District of Columbia, filed a similar brief earlier this month siding with the White House.

Meanwhile, as of Friday, the number of states contesting the president’s executive action had grown to 26, according to a court filing by the Texas attorney general’s office, which is leading the litigation. The president “lacks the authority to grant this amnesty,” said Matthew Thompson, a spokesman for the office. The states, he added, will “fight back against this brazen and illegal abuse of power. “

The U.S. Department of Justice declined to comment. The Obama Administration filed a brief last month claiming the Constitution grants the executive branch “broad discretion over the enforcement of federal immigration law—including determining whether and when to remove (or not remove) particular aliens.”

The administration has until Friday to file additional briefing responding to the states’ request to block the immigration changes.

For more information, go to:  www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com