Supreme Court to Decide on Obama Immigration Plan

By Lorin McLain

Immigration activists are optimistic the U.S. Supreme Court will allow President Obama to push through his plan to protect millions of immigrants from deportation. Federal attorneys appeared before the chief justices this week arguing the president has the authority to change immigration policy without congressional approval. It’s an executive action that has many red states blasting the order as unconstitutional. Texas and 25 other states – including Arizona – led by Republican governors, have won decisions in lower courts blocking it.

The Supreme Court decision will determine the future of an estimated 4.3 million immigrants deemed eligible for the program, not only letting them stay in the country, but become eligible for work permits, public health care, disability, and retirement benefits. The program, Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents, is aimed at undocumented immigrants who are parents of U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents. It also expands the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which targets teenagers and young adults born outside the U.S., but raised in the country.

Those immigrants who qualify have been left in limbo since Republican states won lower court decisions to block it. If the court decides this summer, it could give the Obama administration six months to push through the program before his term expires next January. The decision is certain to add fuel to the illegal immigration debate in the presidential campaign. The order would likely be extended under a Democratic president, or terminated if a Republican is elected.

Immigration advocates in states where the order is blocked are hopeful the President’s program will stand because they say it was conservative judges at lower level courts that blocked it. Opponents say it’s doomed because Congress is responsible for writing immigration laws. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who leads the legal action against the order, says it’s unconstitutional and violates the Administrative Procedures Act. The act dictates how federal agencies set regulations.

The Obama administration says the actions are perfectly valid and the states lack the legal standing to challenge them in court. Federal attorneys argued in court filings that if the lower court ruling is left to stand, it would “frustrate the federal government’s enforcement” of the nation’s immigration laws. The Supreme Court is expected to decide in June.