Activists rallied outside the Supreme Court Monday morning, backing up President Obama’s executive order which would keep millions of illegal immigrants in the USA from being deported.
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The initiatives include expansion of a program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, protecting young immigrants from deportation if they were brought to the USA illegally as children. Under the Obama administration, DHS has long utilized a system of “deferred action”, meaning it does not pursue deportation for certain illegal immigrants on a discretionary basis.
Nevada has one of the highest numbers of undocumented immigrants in the country that could qualify for deportation relief.
Kelley said Obama’s executive actions build on decisions from past Democratic and Republican administrations to prioritize the deportation of undocumented immigrants with criminal histories rather than deporting undocumented children and immigrants with ties to the U.S.
The Supreme Court will announce the decision in June.
In making his case, Verrilli asserted that the state of Texas should not be allowed to challenge the president’s actions by claiming it would cost the state money to give driver’s licenses to the millions of immigrants affected by the federal policy.
“They are here whether we want them or not”, said Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
This is the case for Araceli, an unauthorized immigrant who was brought to the USA from Mexico as a child. In 2014, President Barack Obama signed an executive order greatly expanding immigration policies in the United States. “You can’t dress up a pig in a tuxedo and put him in front of a teleprompter and tell me it still isn’t a pig”, said Father Jon Pedigo of the Guadalupe Parish.
“I don’t see how there is not injury in fact here”, Justice Alito said flatly.
One man affected is Luis Humberto Morales, who has spent more than half of his life living in the shadows.
Immigrant activists, including Jose Antonio Vargas and Sophie Cruz, speak to reporters after oral arguments at the Supreme Court. A 4-4 vote would keep the lower-court rulings in place. “That’s just upside down”.Obama took the action after House of Representatives Republicans killed bipartisan legislation, billed as the biggest overhaul of US immigration laws in decades and providing a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, that was passed by the Senate in 2013.
She said hopes would be shattered.
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The court has been short a justice since the february death of Antonin Scalia. “So we really need something like this executive action to be able to end the pain for our families”.
