GREAT NEWS FROM NEW ORLEANS!!!
DEAR FRIENDS,
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has just dealt another blow to Pres. Obama's efforts to open up every new job in America to 5 million illegal aliens.
The New Orleans-based court today refused the federal government's appeal to lift a lower court's temporary blocking of the executive amnesty that Pres. Obama unilaterally declared a year ago.
Fellow citizens, you have played a role in this great moment, a role I'll explain later.
AMNESTY NOT JUST PROTECTION BUT BENEFITS, COURT RE-CONFIRMS
Most reporters, editors and commentators in the news media have steadfastly tried to make the executive amnesties sound like they are about protecting illegal aliens from deportation.
That was the Obama Administration's argument before the appeals court, saying the amnesty was just about prosecutorial discretion.
But the appeals court didn't buy it.
Instead the court agreed with what NumbersUSA members have been telling reporters for a year -- that the key thing about Obama's executive action is that it gives benefits such as work permits to illegal aliens.Mr. Obama's action "is much more than nonenforcement: It would affirmatively confer 'lawful presence' and associated benefits on a class of unlawfully present aliens. Though revocable, that change in designation would trigger (as we have already explained) eligibility for federal benefits."
-- Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals OBAMA LIKELY BROKE FEDERAL LAW
When Pres. Obama announced his amnesty a year ago, we immediately argued that he was breaking federal law by ignoring Congress and failing to follow Congress-mandated regulatory process. (That has been an argument we have supported in an ongoing lawsuit since 2012 against Obama's first and smaller executive amnesty.)
The court today agreed that Obama indeed seemed to have violated federal policy-making rules.
That had been the ruling of a federal district judge in Brownsville, Texas, who halted the amnesty just hours before it was set to go in effect last February.
The Appeals panel today praised the Brownsville ruling:(The) judge's ruling blocking the plan was "impressive and thorough" . . .
-- Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Bloomberg.com reported that the appeals court said the 26 states which brought the lawsuit against the executive amnesty "were likely to ultimately win the lawsuit."
NUMBERSUSA PLAYED AN IMPORTANT ROLE
Kansas Sec. of State Kris Kobach late last month told a Washington audience that the federal lawsuit of 10 ICE agents that has been 100% financially supported by NumbersUSA played a key role in setting up the success for the 26-state lawsuit ruled on today.
Texas and 25 other states brought the lawsuit against last year's executive amnesty based in part on arguments developed and rulings made in the ICE agent lawsuit that has been underway since late 2012, Kobach said.
The ICE agents in 2013 won a federal District Court ruling that Obama had probably violated federal law with his "Dream Act" executive amnesty of 2012. But the judge said he couldn't stop the amnesty because the agents hadn't proven to him that they had standing to sue. (NumbersUSA continues to support the agents' multiple efforts at appeals.)
A year ago near the executive amnesty announcement, Kobach and NumbersUSA met with Texas officials to share our experience, knowledge and encouragement for states to seek a standing in court that would allow the judicial branch to act on what we thought was the obvious conclusion that Pres. Obama was violating federal law.
Fortunately, the standing of the states to bring this lawsuit has been upheld through the year, giving the courts the right to step in and block the 2014 amnesty. (Unfortunately, the 2012 amnesty for around 2 million is not a part of the 26-state lawsuit.)
The states' standing is based on the argument that the executive amnesty can open up benefits such as Medicaid to illegal aliens, posing harm in the form of costs to the states.
Right now, millions of Americans have more job security because of this 26-state lawsuit. And they can thank the officials of those states for acting boldly and quickly enough to get the amnesty stopped before the work permits were handed out. They can also thank the courageous Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who risked their careers to bring the 2012 lawsuit.
And they can thank the supporters of NumbersUSA who were the only ones to step forward in 2012 to provide the money to model true resistance against the executive overreach of this administration.
If you haven't had a chance to make a donation this year, please click this link and join your fellow citizens in sharing the financial responsibility, glory and honor of this great enterprise:https://www.numbersusa.com/donate
We now await a ruling on whether the court will permanently block the Obama amnesty (which now is just temporarily blocked). And we'll have to see what happens if the administration appeals that ruling to the Supreme Court next year before Obama leaves office.
This is a colossal struggle among the three branches of the federal government and the state governments. You are not apathetic, helpless by-standers. You are in the arena.
THANKS FOR BEING PART OF THIS MONUMENTAL BATTLE,
| ROY BECK | | MON, NOV 9[SUP]th[/SUP] |
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