Texas and 25 other states have challenged the legality of Barack Obama’s unilateral actions to ease deportations for illegals, and on Monday 113 top Republicans in Congress signed a brief backing the lawsuit:
The Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (Va.), are siding squarely with the states, arguing Obama’s executive action “changes the law and sets a new policy, exceeding the executive’s constitutional authority and disrupting the delicate balance of powers.”
“Congress has created a comprehensive immigration scheme — which expresses its desired policy as to classes of immigrants — but the class identified by the [Homeland Security Department] directive for categorical relief is unsupported by this scheme,” the lawmakers wrote in an amicus brief filed with the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.
“Instead of setting enforcement priorities,” they added, “it created a class-based program that establishes eligibility requirements that, if met, grant unlawful immigrants a renewable lawful presence in the United States and substantive benefits.”
The brief was endorsed by 113 Republicans, including Sens. John Cornyn (Texas), the majority whip, and Ted Cruz (Texas), a 2016 presidential hopeful. In the House, the supporters include Reps. Trey Gowdy (S.C.); Tom Price (Ga.); Michael McCaul (Texas), head of the Homeland Security Committee; and Lamar Smith (R-Texas), the former head of the Judiciary panel.
“[T]he President has unlawfully granted amnesty to millions who came here illegally,” Cruz said Monday in a statement.
The states’ lawsuit challenges two specific executive actions:
One, known as the Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA) program, would halt deportations and offer work permits to the parents of U.S. citizens and permanent legal residents. The other would expand Obama’s 2012 program, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative, to a greater number of immigrants brought to the country illegally as kids.
All told, the programs could defer deportation for more than 4 million illegal immigrants.
The states sued the administration over the programs, arguing they mark a case of executive overreach that would saddle them with exorbitant new costs.
In February, a Texas federal judge sided with the states and temporarily halted the programs. The Obama administration appealed the ruling, but the court has yet to decide on the challenge.
