The Obama administration asked the Supreme Court on Friday to rescue the president’s overhaul of the nation’s immigration system. More than 720,000 young immigrants have been granted permission under that program to live and work legally in the United States.
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“It [the challenge] will force millions of people – who are not removal priorities under criteria the court conceded are valid, and who are parents of USA citizens and permanent residents – to continue to work off the books, without the option of lawful employment to provide for their families”, the solicitor general, Donald Verrilli, wrote in the filing. For instances, spouses of immigrants that have work permits can also find jobs in the USA, foreign college students that study technology or science in the nation’s universities can stay and find a place to work in the US, spouses and children of legal immigrants will no longer be deported to their countries while they seek legal status.
New immigrant protests will pressure the Supreme Court to back Obama’s executive order against a few deportations.
The program is called Deferred Action for Parents of Americans, or DAPA. If it rejects the case, the decision will be final.
Brianne Gorod, appellate counsel for the liberal Constitutional Accountability Center said that the court could easily hear the case in the current term.
Obama announced the program through an executive order exactly a year ago Friday after House Republicans blocked an effort to pass a comprehensive immigration bill. “The path is finally clear for the Supreme Court to weigh in and confirm the legality of the expanded DACA and DAPA programs”, Sen. The DACA program granted lawful presence to immigrants who were illegally brought to the United States when they were children.
The 26 states seeking to block DAPA and DACA’s expansion programs are Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin. The administration’s lawyer said the federal court “fundamentally erred” and “committed manifold and significant errors in affirming the unprecedented nationwide injunction”, Verrilli also expressed that the administration was asking for an “immediate review”. “Causa and community members have fought for years to keep families together, and we’ll continue to make our voices heard so that administrative relief becomes a reality for our families” said Lorena Manzo, Lead Organizer of Causa.
If the Court does confirm a right for the states to have sued, it presumably would then move on to decide whether the deferred-deportation policy was likely ultimately to be found illegal.
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It is now stalled by lower court rulings finding that the president probably overstepped his powers in bypassing Congress to put off deportation for almost five million undocumented immigrants.
