Legal Brief Filed by 224 Groups Asks High Court to Hear Landmark Immigration Case
(San Francisco, CA, December 2, 2015)—The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) has joined a coalition of 224 immigration, civil rights, labor, and social service groups in an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to review Texas v. U.S., the case that has temporarily blocked some of President Obama’s executive actions on immigration. The filing of the amicus brief comes less than a month after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld a preliminary injunction put in place by a Texas federal district court that blocked implementation of protections for millions of immigrants and their families across the country. The brief was filed just days after the formal request, known as a petition for writ of certiorari, from the U.S. Department of Justice to the Supreme Court to review the case.
The immigration programs at issue in the case, which were announced by President Obama in November 2014, expanded eligibility for the existing Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and protections for parents of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents through a program known as Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA). Together, the programs would allow millions of undocumented people to remain in the United States without fear of deportation and apply for work permits for a period of three years, with the possibility of renewal. The brief provides personal stories and testimonials about potential beneficiaries of expanded DACA and DAPA and explains how these deferred action initiatives would positively impact millions of U.S. citizen and lawful permanent resident children, family members, employers, employees and other community members.
“The protections that have been put on hold by this litigation are vitally important for many LGBTQ immigrants, including many who have been driven from their home countries by extreme violence and discrimination,” said NCLR Immigration Project Director Noemi Calonje. “We are grateful to President Obama for his leadership on this issue and strongly urge the U.S. Supreme Court to hear this case and reverse the lower court’s unprecedented interference with the President’s authority to enforce our nation’s immigration laws in a fair, principled, and humane manner.”
Since 1994, NCLR’s Immigration Project has provided free legal assistance to thousands of LGBTI immigrants nationwide through, among other services, direct representation of LGBTI immigrants in impact cases and individual asylum cases and advocacy for immigration and asylum policy reform. Since 1994, NCLR’s immigration project has advocated for LGBTQ immigrants and asylum seekers, including representing more than 1,000 LGBTQ people fleeing violence and persecution in their home countries. NCLR has a strong interest in defending the President’s authority to enforce our nation’s immigration laws in a rational and humane manner that also protects the human rights of all people.
