The U.S. Supreme Court confirmed yesterday that it would hear legal arguments on the reach of President Obama’s Executive Actions with respect to our immigration rules. Specifically, the Court will rule on the President’s plan to protect millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation and to allow them to work indefinitely in the U.S. legally.
Over many decades, millions of undocumented immigrants have come to the U.S. and the issue remains both polarizing and unresolved. When President Obama took office, he declared the overhaul of the U.S. immigration policy to be amongst his highest priorities. After repeated inaction by Congress, over a year ago the President took Executive Actions to delay the deportation of more than four million undocumented immigrants. These actions were challenged by a coalition of 26 states, led by Texas, and lower courts agreed that these actions were beyond the reach of Presidential powers.
The Court will likely hear arguments in April and rule in June. However, their decision may only bring brief certainty to the matter because the Obama administration will have only 6 months left to implement and adjudicate the DACA and DAPA applications. Republican presidential candidates have vowed to close the DACA and DAPA programs if elected.