DOJ asks Fifth Circuit to stay injunction against new immigration policy News
DOJ asks Fifth Circuit to stay injunction against new immigration policy

[JURIST] The US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] on Thursday sought an immediate stay pending appeal [text, PDF] of a Fifth Circuit preliminary injunction against the recent immigration initiative announced by US President Barack Obama [official profile] that would halt the deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants [JURIST report]. The injunction was issued against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) [official website] by the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas, enjoining the implementation of the
Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) program and expansions to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program described in the executive order. The DOJ called the move “unprecedented and wrong” arguing that the Constitution does not allow for a federal court to “intrude into the uniquely federal domain of immigration enforcement.” The DOJ requested that the states which requested the injunction be directed to respond within seven days and that the court respond within 14 days after the filing of the motion.

US immigration law [JURIST backgrounder] continues to be a controversial and heavily politicized area of law at both the state and federal levels. In November a judge for the US District Court for the District of Arizona [official website] struck down [JURIST report] an Arizona law that made smuggling immigrants a state crime because it conflicts with federal laws governing immigration. In August 2013 the Obama administration released [JURIST report] a policy directive known as the “Family Interest Directive,” emphasizing that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents should apply “prosecutorial discretion” towards undocumented immigrant parents of minors to limit detaining parents and to safeguard their parental rights. In June 2013 the US Senate approved [JURIST report] a bill which would create new pathways to US citizenship for the more than 11 million undocumented immigrants now living in the US. That bill was subsequently not approved by the House.

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