Two states join Texas immigration lawsuit News
Two states join Texas immigration lawsuit

[JURIST] Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton [official website] announced [press release] on Monday that both Nevada and Tennessee have joined the state-led coalition in its suit against the Obama administration [official website] over November’s executive action [text] on immigration. This brings the total number of states involved to 26, meaning that more than half the states in the Union oppose the president’s action. The original complaint [PDF] against President Barack Obama’s executive action was filed [JURIST report] in December by a coalition of 17 states led by Texas Governor Greg Abbott [official website]. The US District Court for the Southern District of Texas [official website] in Brownsville will be hearing the case, in which the coalition accuses the White House of “trampling” the Constitution. While announcing Nevada and Tennessee’s joining of the coalition, Paxton said:

The momentum against the President’s lawlessness continues to build with Tennessee and Nevada joining the effort to protect our states from the economic and public safety implications of illegal amnesty. As President Obama himself has said numerous times, he lacks the authority to impose amnesty. His actions represent a blatant case of overreach and clear abuse of power.

Oral arguments were heard earlier this month, where the coalition sought an injunction to immediately halt the executive order until the issue could make its way through the court system.

US immigration law [JURIST backgrounder] continues to be a controversial and heavily politicized area of law at both the state and federal level. 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 [JURST 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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