The Supreme Court announced today that it was deadlocked 4-4 on United States v .Texas, keeping in place a national injunction barring the Obama administration from proceeding with its DAPA initiative. DAPA grants deferred action status to approximately 4 million undocumented immigrants who have lived in the United States since 2010 and have children who are either American citizens or lawful permanent residents.
The program was proposed as an extension of DACA (“Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals”), which has allowed hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants who entered the country before their 16th birthday and before June 2007 to receive a renewable two-year work permit and exemption from deportation.
Twenty-six states had sued the Obama administration to block DAPA, claiming it violated both federal limits on executive authority and the Take Care clause of the U.S. Constitution. On February 16, 2015, Judge Andrew Hanen of the Southern District of Texas issued a preliminary injunction blocking the program from going into effect; that decision was affirmed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in November 2015.
What are the consequences of today’s deadlock? As the Obama administration argued to the Court:
The court of appeals struck down a federal immigration enforcement policy at the behest of a group of States that are not the objects of that policy. Its ruling violates bedrock limits of Article III and forces the federal courts to resolve complex debates over immigration policy that the Constitution reserves to the political Branches of the National Government. To make matters worse, having wrongly asserted jurisdiction over immigration policy, the court of appeals seriously misconstrued immigration law, upending more than 50 years of settled practice and stripping the Secretary of frequently-exercised discretion to provide deferred action to categories of aliens already living in our country. The ruling threatens great harm not only to the proper role of the federal courts and to federal immigration law, but also to millions of parents of U.S. citizens and permanent residents, aliens who are the lowest priorities for removal yet now work off the books to support their families. [emphasis added]
And as the mayors of more than 100 cities explained in an amicus brief to the Court:
More than 1.5 million children and parents potentially eligible for relief under the enjoined executive guidance live in our cities and towns… [B]ecause undocumented immigrants are integral members of our communities, the enjoined deferred action programs protect vital local interests. Without the guidance, millions of families in our cities and counties face the threat of deportation, destabilizing our communities and jeopardizing the welfare of families and children. The nationwide injunction also undermines the ability of amici’s police departments to protect and serve all of our residents. Finally, the injunction imposes extensive economic harm on amici. Undocumented immigrants currently contribute hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenues and other economic benefits to local communities every year. The deferred action programs will contribute over $800 million in additional economic benefits to state and local governments annually. New York City alone loses an estimated $100,000 in tax revenue each day the injunction remains in place.
The case now returns to Judge Hanen to determine if the injunction should be made permanent.
