SANTA ANA COLLEGE el Don/eldonnews.org • MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2015
NEWS 5
COURT BLOCKS OBAMA’S IMMIGRATION POLICY
BY JOANNA MEZA / el Don
T
he U.S. Court of Appeals
struck down the Deferred
Action for Parents of
Americans and Lawful Residents
program Monday, ruling that
President Obama overstepped
his boundaries, by sidestepping
Congress after issuing two executive orders allowing qualified
immigrants to stay in the country
without documentation.
“DAPA would dramatically
increase the number of aliens eligible for work authorization, thereby
undermining Congress’s stated
goal of closely guarding access to
work authorization and preserving
jobs for those lawfully in the country,” Judge Jerry E. Smith said.
The assenting judges also said it
would cost the government money.
This decision affects about
970,000 California residents,
according to the Center for
Migration Studies.
“We’re not surprised, we’re disappointed,” said Enrique Morones,
founder and director of Border
Angels a nonprofit organization.
“It’s a shame because people
who are blocking this don’t realize
they’re affecting families and lives.”
Supporters of a program that
allows parents of Americans to stay
in the country are hoping the case
goes to the Supreme Court.
“[We] are hopeful that the
Supreme Court will finally allow
deportation relief for millions
of families. Partisan lines aside,
Americans overwhelmingly desire
a solution to our country’s broken immigration system,” Define
American’s Chief Communications
Officer Saadia McConville said.
The conservative members of
Congress celebrated the ruling.
“The Obama administration
does not have unfettered authority to execute whatever it wants,”
Republican Sen. Charles Grassley
of Iowa, Chair of the Senate
Judiciary Committee, said.
But Alex Nowrasteh, an immigration policy analyst at the Cato
Institute, said that the decision
could actually be a net positive for
Democrats seeking to mobilize
Latino voters in next year’s presidential elections.
“Its quite a blow to the president’s immigration actions, but
it could also be a boom to the
Democratic presidential candidate
because this case could come up in
2016 during the election season,”
he said.
While immigration activists
decry the decision, they’re quick to
point out that DAPA is not a permanent solution.
“What you have to understand is
that DAPA only covers a small percentage,” said RAIZ Deportation
Defense Coordinator Alexis Nava
Teodoro. “At the end of the day for
a lot of people in our community,
they’re still going to be in the same
situation.”
ACTION / Immigrants are brought to tears while watching
President Obama’s speech in L.A. / Gina Ferazzi / TNS
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