The White House is increasing its efforts to rescue the executive action on immigration reform taken by President Obama from the legal limbo in which it currently resides. The lawsuit, headed by 26 states and spearheaded by Texas, has endangered the programs and the Obama administration is now responding with its own aggressive legal strategies.
The Justice Department has asked for the order blocking the program laid down by a Texas judge to be lifted by a federal appeals court. If Judge Andrew Hanen’s ruling is overturned, the deferred action programs created by Obama’s executive action could be implemented straight away; however, if the appeals court sides with the president, the legal fight could drag on for many more months.
“President Obama has acted legally, constitutionally and also wisely,” Jerry Brown, the governor of California, told reporters at the White House on Friday. “I just think some of these Republican governors should be ashamed of themselves.” California has one of the biggest populations of undocumented immigrants in the United States and is one of 14 states, largely led by the Democrats, that went to court with their own legal brief last week to try to get the deferred action programs to go ahead.
The Obama administration has requested the Fifth Circuit to make a ruling on the issue within two weeks, with the president seeing immigration reform as a key aspect of his legacy and wanting the legal fight resolved as quickly as possible.