Almost 5 million undocumented immigrants would have been shielded from deportation. “I hope that this leads to the realization that what we really need is comprehensive immigration reform”. The expanded program, announced November 20, 2014, would have given work permits to 5 million people, including the undocumented immigrant parents of a few USA citizens and permanent residents. Ben Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national security adviser, conceded that was the case, but said Friday that the USA does have intelligence on the Syrians most likely to carry out violence.
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The Obama administration has formally asked the US Supreme Court to review President Obama’s executive action on illegal immigration. One year since their adoption, Obama’s immigration measures seem to have paid off. A report shows that deportations plunged from 410,000 in 2012 to 230,000 in 2015.
As a result, young immigrants would be protected from deportation if they were brought to the USA soil illegally as children.
Eleven days later, Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr. said in the court filing that allowing those rulings to stand would force millions of people “to continue to work off the books, without the option of lawful employment to provide for their families”.
Republicans have bitterly opposed the program, accusing President Obama with executive overreach and granting amnesty to lawbreakers.
The petition made an energetic challenge to the states’ right to sue, arguing that the lower court rulings allowing them into court to pursue their own view of proper immigration policy was “unprecedented and momentous”. The appeals court reversed that decision last week, but only on Thursday did it officially grant the women permission to join in the expected Supreme Court appeal. They held a press conference outside the Los Angles City Hall, along with other local groups, to highlight testimonies of undocumented immigrants who would benefit from the deportation relief programs that Obama announced as part of his executive actions on immigration previous year. It was unclear whether the Supreme Court will choose to hear the case. Otherwise, a decision would not come until after Obama has left office.
But the executive actions have been caught up in a legal dispute since February and have never been implemented.
On Friday, thousands of immigrants planned rallies and protests for across the country and Texas and more than 75 events were scheduled in 19 states.
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“The President clearly acted outside the law when he went around Congress to unilaterally change our nation’s immigration laws, and I’m confident the State of Texas will ultimately prevail in this case”, Cornyn said. Both courts have kept the program from being implemented.
