A federal court judge in Texas ruled yesterday that the Obama administration must temporarily halt its executive actions granting relief from deportation to millions of unauthorized immigrants while the courts decide if the policy is lawful.
The decision by Judge Andrew Hanen, in response to a lawsuit by Texas and 25 other US states opposing the president’s actions, came just days before the administration was to begin accepting applications for temporary legal status from immigrants older than 30 who came to the United States as children. The ruling also affects a temporary legal status program for parents of US citizens and permanent residents, scheduled to go into effect later this spring.
There’s a good chance the federal courts will eventually side with the administration in the case. But in the meantime, millions of unauthorized immigrants in the US will remain at risk of having their rights seriously abused.
While deficient in key respects, the president’s plan, announced last November, would keep eligible families intact and help noncitizens stand up to workplace and other abuses without fear of deportation. It would also improve public safety by giving immigrants less reason to fear — and thus avoid — the police. As a group of major city police chiefs argued in a “friend of the court” brief to the Texas court, each day that the temporary legal status is delayed, public safety suffers.
For example, earlier this month a San Francisco jury found a licensed security guard named Jeffrey Bugai guilty on 17 felony counts related to luring unauthorized male immigrants to his house where he would sexually assault them. The facts of the case “highlight why we desperately need immigration reform,” said San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón. “When victims are afraid to come forward and cooperate with authorities because of their immigration status the whole community suffers.”
If and when implemented, Obama’s executive actions will go only part of the way toward making communities safer and keeping families together. The US Congress needs to act to provide a lasting fix. In recent weeks, however, the debate in Congress has floundered over whether funding for the Department of Homeland Security will include riders blocking the implementation of executive action. It’s time for Congress to stop dallying and immediately take up immigration legislation that includes a legalization process for the millions of unauthorized immigrants in the US, tailored to respecting families, protecting immigrants from workplace violations and crimes, and focusing enforcement on genuine threats.
