New York Magazine
By Margaret Hartmann
February 17, 2015
A
federal judge has temporarily blocked President Obama's executive
actions on immigration, just one day before the first of the policies
announced in November was set
to go into effect. Late on Monday, U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen
ruled in favor of 26 states that filed a lawsuit challenging the
president's executive action, saying the administration failed to
"comply with the Administrative Procedure Act." The temporary
injunction prevents the administration from enacting any of the new
policies, which would protect up to 5 million undocumented immigrants
from deportation.
The
federal government was set to start accepting applications for the
expanded version of the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals on
February 18, and a separate
program for parents of U.S. citizens and permanent residents would have
opened in May. Those who are eligible for the program implemented in
2012 can still apply for deferred action.
The
ruling kicks off what will likely be a long legal battle over whether
Obama's immigration action was constitutional. The lawsuit was filed in
December by a Texas-led
coalition of mostly conservative states, which argued that the
president circumvented the law and his executive actions would harm the
states by forcing them to "expend substantial resources on law
enforcement, healthcare, and education" on a growing population
of undocumented immigrants.
"President
Obama abdicated his responsibility to uphold the United States
Constitution when he attempted to circumvent the laws passed by Congress
via executive fiat,"
said Texas governor Greg Abbott, who was the state's attorney general
when he filed the suit. "Judge Hanen's decision rightly stops the
President's overreach in its tracks."
The
administration has argued that Obama has the legal authority to decide
how immigration policy is carried out, and 12 states signed on to a
brief supporting the president's
position. Some legal experts say that the states have no standing to
bring the case, since they can't prove that they would be harmed by the
deferred action for undocumented immigrants.
The
26 states had an unusually sympathetic ear in Judge Hanen, and the
attorneys general who filed the suit were accused of "judge shopping" by
filing the suit in his
district. Judge Hanen was appointed by George W. Bush and has publicly
criticized Obama on immigration. The New York Times notes that in a
ruling last August, he said the administration's deportation policy
"endangers America" and was "an open invitation to
the most dangerous criminals in society."
The
federal government is expected to appeal the ruling, which could keep
the injunction from going into effect while the higher court considers
the matter. The Fifth
Circuit Court of Appeals is one of the country's most conservative
appellate courts, but Fusion reports that immigration advocates think
there's a good chance it would overturn Judge Hanen's ruling. "It would
be really remarkable for any court … to rule on
the basis of the law to say that Obama doesn’t have the authority to do
this,” said Frank Sharry, executive director of America’s Voice.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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