17 states sue to stop Obama's immigration plan

[grape ape]

By Molly Hennessy-Fiske

Texas and 16 other states sued the federal government and immigration agencies in federal court Wednesday to try to derail President Obama's executive action that would defer deportation for up to 5 million people, arguing it’s unconstitutional and will worsen the humanitarian crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border.

State officials noted in their filing in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas: “This lawsuit is not about immigration. It is about the rule of law, presidential power and the structural limits of the U.S. Constitution.”

Greg Abbott, Texas' Republican attorney general and the governor-elect, announced the lawsuit in Austin, accusing Obama of issuing “an executive decree that requires federal agencies to award legal benefits to individuals whose conduct contradicts the priorities of Congress.”

“The president is abdicating his responsibility to faithfully enforce laws that were duly enacted by Congress and attempting to rewrite immigration laws, which he has no authority to do,” Abbott said. The president’s actions amount to “executive disregard of the separation of powers,” he said.

The Obama administration says prosecutorial discretion gives the president the power to take such action.

The states' lawsuit was filed against the federal government and the heads of several agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The states that joined Texas in filing suit are Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

Earlier Wednesday, Texas Gov. Rick Perry called for increased support from Washington for border security, saying in a statement that Obama’s executive action could spark another "mass migration."

In the wake of an immigrant influx of more than 68,000 unaccompanied children across the border this year -- many via Texas' Rio Grande Valley -- Perry ordered a surge of state law enforcement and the National Guard.

Although the number of immigrants caught crossing Texas' southern border illegally has plummeted 73% since June, state lawmakers this week extended the law enforcement surge through August. On Wednesday, Perry ordered state agencies to use the E-Verify system to screen employee eligibility.

“Texas’ increased law enforcement presence in the border region is all the more necessary as the federal government continues to ignore the very real issue of border security in favor of political posturing on immigration,” Perry said. “Without border security, immigration reform is a fruitless exercise.”



http://www.latimes.com/nation/nation...203-story.html

[BTOWNMAMI239]

I seriously wonder how this will turn out. For once FL isn't involved by the looks of the article.

And Texas has just been ordered to start the E-Verify system?
We've been doing for a while now. Why just until now though? TX is a border state. You'd think border states would be the first ones to implement this, if this is true, that is.