Speaker John Boehner is applauding House Republicans for leading the fight against President Obama’s executive action on immigration and amnesty. The executive action was challenged in a lawsuit filed by 26 states.
He issued the following statement in a press release after an appeals court ruled Tuesday, affirming a district court’s earlier injunction against the federal government:
The president said 22 times he did not have the authority to take the very action on immigration he eventually did, and the courts have agreed once again. House Republicans are leading the fight to rein in President Obama’s executive overreach and uphold our Constitution, and we will continue to follow this case closely.
On Tuesday, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a district court’s earlier ruling that granted an injunction to prevent the Obama administration from enforcing the executive action and moving amnesty programs forward.
“To succeed on the merits, the administration had to show that the district court abused its discretion by entering a preliminary injunction. The administration was unable to do so,” wrote Jon Feere, of the Center for Immigration Studies.
Feere also outlined how the Obama administration argued that the district court injunction should be limited only to the state of Texas.
The court ruling rejects that argument:
The government maintains that the nationwide scope of the injunction is an abuse of discretion, so it asks that the injunction be confined to Texas or the plaintiff states. But partial implementation of DAPA would undermine the constitutional imperative of “a uniform Rule of Naturalization” and Congress’s instruction that “the immigration laws of the United States should be enforced vigorously and uniformly.” A patchwork system would “detract[] from the ‘integrated scheme of regulation’ created by Congress.” Further, there is a substantial likelihood that a partial injunction would be ineffective because DAPA beneficiaries would be free to move between states.
Feere says it’s ironic the federal government attempted this argument because the Obama administration “has often complained about a ‘patchwork’ of immigration laws across the country.”
The ruling Tuesday is a major set back for the Obama administration and a big win for the lawsuit filed by 26 states against Obama’s executive amnesty.