Obama's Executive Amnesty Faces Legislative, Judicial Challenges

With funding for Homeland Security set to expire February 27, the GOP-controlled House plans to insert amendments in that department's future-funding legislation designed to block Obama's executive immigration actions. The Daily Signal reports that House leaders, after considering several proposals, have agreed to a plan that would:

• prevent Obama from implementing his recent executive actions to defer deportation for up to 5 million immigrants living in the U.S. illegally and granting them work permits,
• bar Obama from taking similar independent action in the future,
• strip protections provided to "Dreamers" under Obama's 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, and
• restore the "Secure Communities" enforcement program that Obama ended with his executive actions.

Meanwhile, 25 states have filed a lawsuit detailing the billions of dollars in costs that Obama's executive action imposes on states unless the court stops the amnesty:

More than 1,100 pages of documents submitted by Texas and two dozen other states suing to stop the amnesty detail the costs in dept, and include sworn affidavits from state officials, federal immigration officers and others arguing that the amnesty will increase illegal immigration, leaving the states with even bigger burdens. [snip]

Judge [Andrew] Hanen, who sits in Brownsville, Texas, will hear oral arguments in the case Thursday [Jan 15], with the fate of Mr. Obama's most ambitious executive action to date riding on the outcome.

The case turns on two key factors: first, whether Texas and the 24 other states that have joined the lawsuit can show they or their residents stand to suffer from the president's policies; and second, whether Mr. Obama's actions go beyond case-by-case discretion and tread on Congress' power to write laws and set policy. [snip]

Ilya Shapiro, senior fellow for constitutional studies at CATO, said the case should test just how broadly states are able to challenge federal laws on behalf of their residents. Mr. Shapiro said given gridlock and the penchant for presidents to act on their own, the case could have a huge impact.