In a 4-to-4 decision, the justices let stand a lower court ruling that Mr. Obama had overstepped his authority.
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For numerous affected families, Tuesday’s deadlock means continued uncertainty about building a stable life in the United States.
Texas led 26 Republican-dominated states in challenging the program Obama announced in November 2014.
The states argued that Obama overstepped the powers granted to him by the U.S. Constitution by infringing upon the authority of Congress.
President Barack Obama is predicting that the USA immigration system will eventually be overhauled.
The Supreme Court deadlocked 4-4, effectively killing the president’s effort to provide protections for parents of children who are in the country legally and an expansion of the program that benefits people who were brought to this country as children.
Clinton, calling the result “unacceptable”, said the ruling shows “us all just how high the stakes are in this election”. Trump had vowed to cancel Obama’s deportation relief programs if they were upheld in the courts.
The president took this action on his own only after having failed to get a comprehensive immigration package approved through the legislative process. A ninth justice could swing the balance if the issue is revisited.
Supporters on the other side of the issue are speaking out in favor of the Supreme Court decision. “We don’t have to wall ourselves off from those who may not look like us right now, or pray like we do, or have a different last name, because being an American is something more than that”.
Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, considered the decision a victory for Republicans who believed the president overstepped his executive powers and violated the Constitution. Obama said he’s not considering any more executive actions on the issue before the end of his presidency.
And somehow, the most significant immigration case in decades was shut down in a 4-4 deadlock with a mere one sentence ruling: “The judgment is affirmed by an equally divided Court”. The Obama administration’s plan, called Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents or DAPA, would have allowed as many as five million unauthorized immigrants who are the parents of citizens or lawful permanent residents to apply for work permits.
The states quickly went to court to block the Obama initiatives. Working to lay the groundwork for the next president to pick up the effort, he cast the election in November as a referendum on how the country would treat its immigrants.
The presumptive Democratic nominee weighed in on the court’s non-ruling: “Today’s heartbreaking #SCOTUS immigration ruling could tear apart 5 million families facing deportation. And today the Supreme Court validated that”.
He promised that the decision would not change the United States administration’s stance on immigration enforcement, saying that long-term, law-abiding unauthorised immigrants were a low priority for deportation.
In a region filled with immigrants from around the world, the Supreme Court action also affects families from other parts of Latin America, Africa, South Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Those few words – with no further elaboration – have potentially decided the fates of up to 4 million undocumented immigrants.
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President Barack Obama will speak from the White House at midday Thursday about the Supreme Court vote on his immigration plan.
