A total of 34 Senate Democrats and 184 House Democrats, including Senator Reid and Leader Pelosi, filed an amicus brief last night in support of the petition for certiorari to the Supreme Court seeking review of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruling, which blocked the Secretary of Homeland Security from implementing the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) program and expanding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. These programs were announced by President Obama last November as part of his Executive Actions on Immigration.
The brief makes the case that DAPA and expanded DACA are consistent with Congressional intent and the Executive’s longstanding legal authority to establish national immigration enforcement priorities and exercise discretion in the enforcement of our immigration laws. As stated in the brief: Congress has “granted the Secretary [of Homeland Security] broad discretion in determining how to carry out the immigration laws, and has explicitly directed the Secretary to establish policies and priorities for enforcement of those laws.”
The brief expresses deep concern that the Fifth Circuit decision interferes with Congress’s ability to grant the Executive the flexibility and discretion as necessary to enforce the law in a rational, effective, and efficient manner. The ruling would instead “force Congress to specifically prescribe every priority and power with detailed enforcement instructions,” the practical effect of which – if allowed to stand – would strip the Executive of broad authority to make discretionary judgments on how best to enforce the nation’s immigration laws where Congress has not prescribed a specific action, and would devastate millions of individuals, families, and communities across the nation.
Full text of the amicus brief can be found here.
The press release summarizes the key points of the brief:
- Congress has entrusted the Secretary of Homeland Security with broad discretion in the enforcement of the nation’s immigration laws.
- For decades, Congress has recognized the executive branch’s authority to exercise discretion in the enforcement of our immigration laws.
- When the Immigration and Nationality Act was first enacted in 1952, Congress authorized the Executive to adopt regulations, issue instructions, and take other acts necessary to implement the law.
- With the creation of the Department of Homeland Security in 2002, Congress explicitly directed the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish “national immigration enforcement policies and priorities.”
- The Fifth Circuit decision undermines Congress’s ability to place critical responsibility in the hands of the agency with the relevant expertise and capabilities.
- The ruling would alarmingly curtail Congress’s ability to delegate discretionary authority to the Executive, forcing Congress to specifically prescribe every priority and power delegated to the Secretary of Homeland Security with detailed enforcement instructions.
- The Fifth Circuit decision interferes with rational, effective, and efficient enforcement of federal law by removing the Secretary’s broad authority to make discretionary judgments on how best to enforce the nation’s immigration laws where Congress has not prescribed a specific action.
- If allowed to stand, the ruling would drastically impair effective administration of our immigration laws, throwing well-established immigration practices into disarray and harming millions of individuals around the country.
Among the members of Congress who joined the amicus brief are:
U.S. House of Representatives
Nancy Pelosi, Democratic Leader
Steny H. Hoyer, Democratic Whip
James E. Clyburn, Assistant Democratic Leader
Xavier Becerra, Democratic Caucus Chair
Joseph Crowley, Democratic Caucus Vice-Chair
John Conyers, Jr., Ranking Member, Committee on the Judiciary
Zoe Lofgren, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security of the Committee on the Judiciary U.S.
Senate
Harry Reid, Democratic Leader
Richard J. Durbin, Democratic Whip
Charles E. Schumer, Democratic Conference Committee Vice Chair and Policy Committee Chair, and Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest, Committee on the Judiciary
Patty Murray, Secretary, Democratic Conference
Patrick J. Leahy, Ranking Member, Committee on the Judiciary
Robert Menendez, Democratic Hispanic Task Force Chair
Besides the amicus brief filed by m,embers of Congress, a coalition of 224 immigration, civil rights, labor, and social service groups filed an amicus (“friend of the court”) brief, urging the Supreme Court to review the Fifth Circuit’s decision. The brief from the American Immigration Council, National Immigration Law Center, Service Employees International Union, American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, Advancement Project, LatinoJustice PRLDEF, and the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, among others, supports the U.S. government’s petition for certiorari.
KJ