Law Profs File Fifth Circuit Amicus Brief in Texas v. USA Appeal

"Amici Curiae are 109 immigration law professors, all of whom have substantial expertise and interest in the proper interpretation and enforcement of the immigration laws.  Amici have, collectively, more than 1,500 years of experience in immigration law, and many have participated in congressional and national discussion about the administrative actions at issue in this litigation. ... 

Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (“DAPA”) and expansion of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (“DACA”) are well within the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security’s (the “Secretary”) express statutory authority to establish national immigration enforcement policies and priorities as well as the Secretary’s broad discretion in enforcing United States immigration laws.  DAPA and expanded DACA are based on considerations peculiarly within the Secretary’s expertise; are not inconsistent with congressional policies underlying immigration-law statutes; follow longstanding administrative practices that Congress has never prohibited or restricted; constitute considered priority-setting and exercises of prosecutorial discretion, not abdication of the Secretary’s responsibilities; and, while providing general criteria for deferred-action decisions, require the exercise of enforcement discretion on a case-by-case basis. The district court’s findings to the contrary should be rejected, and its grant of a preliminary injunction should be reversed." - BRIEF OF IMMIGRATION LAW PROFESSORS AS AMICI CURIAE IN SUPPORT OF REVERSAL, Apr. 6, 2015.