Anti-Immigrant Conservatives File Suit Against Administration’s Policy of Deferred Action for DREAM-Eligible Immigrants

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Anti-Immigrant Conservatives File Suit Against Administration’s Policy of Deferred Action for DREAM-Eligible Immigrants
By: David Dayen Thursday August 23, 2012 12:58 pm	Tweet3

Fresh off reshaping the immigration plank of the GOP platform in the most extreme manner possible, Kris Kobach, the Kansas Secretary of State, has sued Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano over the Obama Administration’s new deferred action for childhood arrivals (DACA) policy, which enables eligible undocumented immigration to apply for a two-year reprieve from deportation and a work permit.

Kobach filed the lawsuit along with ten Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officials who say the policy forces them into unconstitutional activity:

The suit was filed in the District Court for the Northern District of Texas and challenges a new policy announced by Napolitano earlier this year by arguing that it forces officers to break the law.

“We are federal law enforcement officers who are being ordered to break the law,” said Crane in a statement. “This directive puts ICE agents and officers in a horrible position.” [...]

“The Obama administration makes it impossible for ICE agents to do their jobs,” said House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) in a statement issued along with fellow Texas Republicans Reps. John Carter and Louie Gohmert.

“Instead of enforcing the law, the Obama administration requires ICE agents to release illegal immigrants,” Smith said.

Politically, it seems like a terrible idea to let Kris Kobach be the conservative face of immigration policy. He already took the lead in rewriting the Republican platform to endorse “self-deportation” and laws like Arizona’s SB1070, most of which was struck down by the Supreme Court (Kobach wrote the law, so of course he has a soft spot for it). There’s just no way to connect with the fastest-growing segment of the electorate, the Latino community, when the official party position is so belligerent and hurtful.

On the policy here, I think it’s well-established that federal officials have wide prosecutorial discretion in the case of immigration. These ICE officials may not like it, but their duty is to follow the directives of their superior officers. And if DREAM-eligible immigrants can be granted deferred action status, they have to honor that in the field.

This will probably not be the only lawsuit filed against the new DACA policy. Rep. Steve King (R-IA) plans to file suit in the coming weeks.

1 Comment

One Response to “Anti-Immigrant Conservatives File Suit Against Administration’s Policy of Deferred Action for DREAM-Eligible Immigrants”

jaango August 24th, 2012 at 8:36 am

The Immigration Act, done in 1953, provided the current and former occupants of the White House, with a variety of tools for the tool box, in order to “manage” national immigration policy, including any perceived exemptions. And over all these years, Congress has not sought to “control” federal immigration policy, other than some form of Comprehensive Immigration Reform. Thus, this “deferred action” is in keeping with the authority granted by Congress. And interestingly, Congress has not done anything that prohibits or remotely touches on these “executive orders.” Therefore, Kobach is playing politics while hoping that some Republican-oriented federal judge in Texas, will provide the “genuis” that supports Kobach and these ICE agents.

And yet, the SCOTUS demonstrates the constant and consistent behavor for “interpreting the words and not the policies.” SNARK.

Jaango