Supreme Court Will Hear Case Deciding Fate of 5 Million Immigrants

The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to review President Barack Obama’s executive order allowing an estimated 5 million undocumented immigrants to remain in the United States. The politically-charged policy has long been a target for Republicans who refused to approve it in Congress, and the court’s ruling is certain to fuel the already-heated immigration debate in the presidential campaign.

Caught in the middle are the immigrant parents of children who were either born in the United States or otherwise have legal residency.

Twenty-six states, led by Texas, filed suit against Obama’s 2014 order that would allow immigrant parents to stay and work in the U.S. after passing criminal background clearances and registering with authorities. The suit also challenges a similar order for immigrants who entered the country illegally as children.

The high court is expected to hear in the case in April and issue a ruling in June. But immigration already has been a lightning rod issue for GOP presidential contenders.

Republican front-runner Donald Trump has vowed to a build border wall and deport the estimated 11.3 million undocumented immigrants currently in the United States. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida also advocates for securing the border through increased border patrol agents and fences, but has backed a path to citizenship in the past. And Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas accuses the Obama administration of “trying to amend our immigration laws by fiat” and wants Republicans to oppose amnesty.  

Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton has expressed support for Obama’s executive actions, but said that her policies would “go further,” including a path to citizenship. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has also said that he would support and expand the executive order.

Obama issued the executive action in November 2014 to assure undocumented immigrants they “can come out of the shadows.” On Tuesday, advocates applauded the Supreme Court’s decision to hear the case and finally settle the immigrants’ fates.

“The only reason that my parents and millions more are still living with the fear of deportation is because of political games,” said Cristina Jimenez, managing director of United We Dream.

The court must first decide whether Texas has legal standing to bring the case against Obama’s executive order. State officials claim the immigration policy would force Texas to change its own laws for issuing drivers’ licenses for legal residents or potentially lose revenue.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said the case hinges on whether — as he believes — Obama overstepped his constitutional limits in ordering the immigration reforms.

“There are limits to the President’s authority,” Paxton said in a statement shortly after the Supreme Court announced it would hear the case. “Those limits enacted by Congress were exceeded when the President unilaterally sought to grant ‘lawful presence’ to more than 4 million unauthorized aliens who are in this country unlawfully.”

Due to the sheer number of immigrants involved and the fact that the executive orders went against the wishes of Congress, it is difficult to predict how the Supreme Court might rule, said lawyer Muzaffar Chishti, director of the Migration Policy Institute office at New York University.

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