Back in 2014, President Barack Obama signed a total of 14 executive orders that directed various departmental agencies to not deport approximately 4 million illegal adult immigrants in the United States if they are parents of children who are born in the country, as well as if they have a job, high school diploma, stay out of prison, and pay taxes. However, these same conditions were also rejected by Congress.
In response to these conditions, a total of 26 states, as well as the House of Representatives, made the decision to sue President Obama as well as those who the orders were directed towards as a way to prevent the orders from being enforced. The main argument was that the president attempted to rewrite current immigration laws and change the standards for deporting illegal immigrants. Furthermore, they also argued that since federal law requires these parties to offer the same net of social services for illegal immigrants as they do for legal ones, the financial burden would be far beyond current budgetary limits. Furthermore, it was also argued that enforcing President Obama’s orders would constitute a presidential command for the states to spend their own tax dollars against their own wishes, which is something that the president actually has no authority to do.
In response, President Obama stated that literally enforcing the law created an impossibility for him, as he doesn’t want to deport the parents of children who are American since it destroys families and impairs a child’s welfare, and he also cannot deport children who were born here since they are legally considered to be American citizens.
The case was filed in the state of Texas and a federal judge agreed with the states. The feds appealed, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit upheld the initial ruling. Earlier this week, the Supreme Court heard another appeal from the feds, but a decision is pending. Currently, there are eight justices on the bench due to the recent passing of Antonin Scalia, which leads to the possibility of a tie vote. If that ends up becoming the case, then the initial ruling will still be upheld.