For Immediate Release 
April 15, 2016
Contact: Armando Carmona, armando@ndlon.org, 951-966-6500

The Deporter-In-Chief v. 26 Nativist Governors & Attorneys-General (aka US v. Texas)

Los Angeles, CA—In the lead up to oral arguments in the case of U.S. v. Texas, National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) representatives, Pablo Alvarado and Jessica Karp Bansal, made the following statements:

Litigation Director, Jessica Karp Bansal:

“Next week all eyes will be on the Supreme Court as they decide which side of history they will stand on in U.S. v. Texas. The law is clear. And it has been clear for a long time. The President could have provided relief from deportation—and much more—in his first year in office. Instead, he chose to accelerate mass deportations.

“It’s outrageous that it has taken eight years to provide protection for parents of U.S. citizen and legal resident children. We hope the Justices will look through the political games that have dominated the immigration debate for the past decade, and affirm the President’s authority, at minimum, to enact DAPA and DACA 2.0, which fall far short of protecting the 11 million individuals that deserve relief from deportation today.”

“U.S. v. Texas illustrates a simple truth, that the immigration battleground extends far beyond our dysfunctional Congress. The white supremacists enacting hate legislation in North Carolina and Arizona (yes, again) know this and are excited to use every avenue at their disposal to help ICE identify, detain, and deport more immigrants. This much should be clear by now: There are many ways to block or to advance immigration reforms. We only hope allies of immigrants will begin to show the same level of enthusiasm in advancing pro-immigrant strategies as hate groups have shown in excluding immigrants.”

Executive Director, Pablo Alvarado:

“Millions of immigrants have no choice but to put their faith in the judicial system after having witnessed the failure of both Congress and the President to protect their basic rights. A case between the Deporter-in-Chief and 26 nativist governors and attorneys-general is not ideal, and we are grateful to Jane Does and MALDEF for intervening so that immigrant voices are at the table. It was immigrants, after all, who forced President Obama to take action after years of a shameful and hypocritical policy criminalizing immigrants and resulting in mass deportations.

“Despite the narrow legal claims in the case, the central question before the Supreme Court is whether this country’s legacy of white supremacy will be upheld or eroded.

“This is a case about the political equality. Will millions of people, whose labor has been accepted, exploited, and devalued, be given work authorization, or will the Court take the country backward? We will wait and see, and we will continue to make the case in Court and in the court of public opinion that immigrants deserve equality.”

** NDLON Litigation Director, Jessica Karp Bansal is available for interview **

For Background: NDLON’s Rule-Making Petition (filed February 4, 2014) lays out
the President’s authority to take executive action

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