Obama administration seeks to reverse Texas judge's immigration ruling
The Obama administration moved Monday to reverse a federal judges order in Texas that blocked a White House plan to shield up to 5 million immigrants from deportation.
In a court filing in Brownsville, Texas, the government urged U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen to lift his own injunction and allow President Obamas immigration initiatives to proceed. Those initiatives would offer immigrants in the country illegally the chance to apply for a three-year permit to stay and work on U.S. soil if they met certain criteria.
Leaving the injunction in place would work immense harm to the public interest by undermining efforts to encourage illegal aliens with significant ties to the community and no serious criminal record to come out of the shadows and to request the ability to work legally, the motion says.
The administration argued that Texas and 25 other states that sued the government had no legal standing to interfere in federal enforcement of immigration law.
Hanens ruling already has disrupted the governments effort to prepare for an expected onslaught of applications. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service had leased an office center in northern Virginia, and asked contractors to submit bids to supply records services by Monday.
That contract was canceled Friday, as the program ground to a halt.
Obama had invoked his executive authority when he announced the deportation waiver program in November, saying he was tired of waiting for Congress to reform the immigration system.
The 26 states challenged Obamas actions in court. Last week, hours before the application process was scheduled to start, Hanen issued an injunction that barred implementation of the programs, agreeing with the states that Obama had outstripped his constitutional powers.
The administration asked Hanen to stay his own order while the government appealed his ruling.
The largest part of the program, called Deferred Action for Parents of Americans, would protect an estimated 4 million immigrants from deportation if they can prove they have lived in the U.S. for five years, or are parents of citizens or legal residents. Applicants with serious criminal records are not eligible.
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Obama administration seeks to reverse Texas judge's immigration ruling