Yep, families of DREAMers and other immigrants. You're just going to have to wait a little longer and hope you're not deported in the meantime, because a three-judge panel just put the full stop on Obama's executive orders. Not that it was political or anything like that.
A split federal appeals court on Tuesday let stand a lower court's ruling that has stymied Obama administration plans to shield up to 5 million people - including young immigrants known as "Dreamers" – from deportation.
At issue was President Obama's proposed extension of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, created in 2012, and the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Legal Permanent Residents, or DAPA, which was scheduled to start in May.
Although the programs do not create a path to citizenship, critics have labeled them “amnesty,” and on Tuesday they praised the 2-1 ruling from the New Orleans-based appellate court.
“Texas just won the executive amnesty case at the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. The Constitution wins,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a vocal critic of Obama's immigration policies, wrote in a tweet.
Twenty-six states, led by Texas, had sued to stop the programs, arguing that the president had overstepped his constitutional authority. Judges Jerry E. Smith and Jennifer Walker Elrod agreed. They also found that Texas officials could suffer a “cognizable injury” from the cost of having to issue driver’s licenses to at least 500,000 people that might be covered under the executive action.
Smith was appointed by President Reagan and Elrod by President George W. Bush. Judge Stephen A. Higginson, who dissented, was appointed by Obama. The White House noted his dissent Tuesday.
“Today, two judges of the 5th Circuit chose to misinterpret the facts and the law in denying the government's request for a stay,” said Brandi Hoffine, a White House spokeswoman. “As the powerful dissent from Judge Higginson recognizes, President Obama's immigration executive actions are fully consistent with the law.”
In other news, that poor beleaguered state which cannot afford to issue drivers' licenses to immigrants is about to receive a hefty infusion of federal funds to help with the flood damage.
God bless America.
