The GOP Fight Against Obama’s Immigration Order Seems Lost

The White House asked Texas Judge Hanen to stop blocking Obama’s executive orders on immigration. The judge refused, but that might not matter for long, as the appeals court will most likely overturn the ruling. For members of the Republican party, a successful appeal could hurt their standing with fellow conservatives.

In his ruling, Judge Hanen blasted Obama’s most recent legal defense of his executive orders, which will allow as many as four million undocumented immigrants to avoid deportation.

“Whether by ignorance, omission, purposeful misdirection, or because they were misled by their clients, the attorneys for the government misrepresented the facts.”

According to The Hill, Hanen was incensed because the administration failed to report an additional 100,000 work permits for undocumented immigrants until last month. The latest hearing only seemed to steady the Judge’s resolve to stop the immigration orders as long as possible, throwing a few more criticisms at Obama’s attorneys in his ruling.

“Fabrications, misstatements, half-truths, artful omissions and the failure to correct misstatements may be acceptable, albeit lamentable, in other aspects of life. But in the courtroom, when an attorney knows that both the court and the other side are relying on complete frankness, such conduct is unacceptable.”

Despite the judge’s indignation, his ruling will face a major challenge on April 17, when the Obama administration brings the case before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

According to the New York Times, the court signaled how it would handle Judge Hanen’s injunction in a ruling on a case similar in many aspects.

State officials in Mississippi and immigration agents brought a lawsuit against separate immigration orders from Obama in 2012. His executive orders temporarily shielded undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as minors from deportation, paving the way for the Dreamers Act.

The Fifth Court of Appeals threw out that lawsuit on Tuesday – the day after Judge Hanen’s ruling. The judges claimed that since the immigration orders didn’t harm the agents or state officials, they had no legal standing to put up the challenge.

The court will likely overturn Judge Hanen’s injunction using the same logic.

That could mean a loss of standing to some Republicans on Capitol Hill.

As Fox News reported last month, Obama’s immigration executive orders were at the center of a battle to defund the Department of Homeland Security. Republicans initially wanted to withhold DHS funding to force a compromise with Obama over the immigration orders. Ultimately, Congress passed a clean DHS funding bill rather than hurt the organization responsible for the defending the homeland, creating a divide in the GOP.

As previously reported by the Inquisitr, Senator Lindsey Graham was one of the moderate voices rallying against defunding the DHS.

“I am willing and ready to pass a DHS funding bill and let this play out in court. The worst possible outcome for this nation is to defund the Department of Homeland Security given the multiple threats we face to our homeland. And I will not be part of that.”

Now, that it looks like the court will likely throw out the injunction, the GOP’s last hope of blocking the Obama’s immigration orders looks bleak, and some members of the Republican Party might have to walk away feeling betrayed by fellow politicians advising them to “leave it to the courts.”

Be the first to comment

The Indian Panorama - Best Indian American Newspaper in New York & Dallas - Comments