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NYC Leaders Blast Texas Ruling That Blocks Obama's Immigration Orders
By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 17, 2015
Modified Feb 17, 2015
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By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 17, 2015
Modified Feb 17, 2015
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A federal judge in Texas has blocked the immigration action that President Obama announced last fall. The White House has promised to fight the ruling, but in the meantime at least Barry knows NYC has his back.
Obama's action would have allowed immigrants to apply for "quasi-legal" status. The NY Times reports, "The first of those programs was scheduled to start receiving applications on Wednesday. The immediate impact of the ruling is that up to 270,000 undocumented immigrants nationwide who came to the United States as children will not be able to apply for deportation protection under an expansion of an existing executive program. A larger new program is scheduled to begin in May."
U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen claims that Obama overstepped his executive authority, but Cornell law professor Stephen Yale-Loehr tells USA Today, "Despite the anti-immigrant rhetoric in the judge's 123-page opinion, the temporary injunction itself is narrow," and "said the administration is likely to prevail on the merits because federal courts have often given the president broad authority to shape the enforcement and implementation of immigration laws."
Mayor de Blasio, who along with other city leaders heralded NYC ID last month, issued this statement: "President Obama’s lawful executive actions on immigration are consistent with our core American values of compassion, inclusion and freedom. We trust the Court of Appeals will support these much needed, commonsense measures. New York City will continue to defend, advocate and organize for the inclusion of immigrants already in our communities, who have proven to be an incredibly positive force for our economy and culture. And New York City will continue to prepare for implementation of the President’s executive action, and encourage immigrant communities to step forward and sign up when programs go live—these programs are lawful and secure, and we have your back."
City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito was more forceful:
"It's unfortunate that anti-immigrant activists and Republican leaders continue to reject all common sense immigration reforms and instead are spending their time filing frivolous lawsuits and threatening to shut down government agencies.
The facts are clear: President Obama's administrative relief plan is constitutional and necessary. His plan will benefit the country and follows the lead of other Presidents who have taken executive action on immigration. For too long, millions of immigrants who work hard, pay taxes and contribute to this country have been marginalized and this immigration action will bring them out of the shadows. This ruling by a Texas judge won’t deter advocates for immigration reform and we look forward to the courts reversing the ruling and affirming the President’s plan.
The New York City Council will continue to work with partners across the City to ensure those who stand to benefit from administrative relief can do so."
Comptroller Stringer added, "President Obama’s executive action extending basic rights and dignity to millions of immigrants was humane and critically important to the future of our nation and I am confident the Court of Appeals will overturn today’s decision by a federal court judge blocking that initiative. I look forward to implementing these reforms in New York and working with members of our immigrant communities to help them secure the fundamental protections they need and deserve."
Earlier today, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said, "The Supreme Court and Congress have made clear that the federal government can set priorities in enforcing our immigration laws—which is exactly what the President did when he announced commonsense policies to help fix our broken immigration system. Those policies are consistent with the laws passed by Congress and decisions of the Supreme Court, as well as five decades of precedent by presidents of both parties who have used their authority to set priorities in enforcing our immigration laws...
"Top law enforcement officials, along with state and local leaders across the country, have emphasized that these policies will also benefit the economy and help keep communities safe. The district court’s decision wrongly prevents these lawful, commonsense policies from taking effect and the Department of Justice has indicated that it will appeal that decision."
Update: The President discussed the issues this afternoon. From the White House press pool report:
POTUS said that for individuals who had questions about whether to apply, “We are going to refer those questions to the Department of Homeland Security that has already begun the planning process. And we will be prepared to implement this fully as soon as the legal issues get resolved.”
On proceeding during the legal wrangling: “We’re not going to disregard this federal court ruling. The law is the law in this country, and we take things a step at a time.” Said they would not be taking applications until the case is settled. “But we are doing the preparatory work because this is a big piece of business,” and because it was important to allocate limited resources to the most important tasks.
“We should not be tearing some mom away from her child when the child has been born here and that mom has been living here the last 10 years minding her own business and being an important part of the community. We should be focused on stopping the people at the borders, reinforcing our effectiveness there, going after criminals and felons who are in our midst, and strengthening our systems for legal immigrations. Those are all the things that we could be doing through a comprehensive immigration reform bill.”
Tagged
immigration
mayor de blasio
melissa mark-viverito
president obama
scott stringer
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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