Immigration Groups Fight Paul Ryan's Plan to File Supreme Court Brief
A group of 50 pro-immigration groups have pressured Republican legislators to reject Majority House Leader Paul Ryan's plan to file an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in opposition to President Obama's immigration orders.
Ryan recently announced his plan to formally hold a vote on his resolution, hoping partisan support from House Republicans would help him move forward with his plan.
House Vote Planned for Later This Month
The House vote is expected to be held later this month. The Republicans have targeted U.S. vs. Texas, which is slated to go before the Supreme Court later this year. Justices are set to examine if the Obama administration acted within the guidelines of the law when the president moved to enact an executive action to shield up to 5 million immigrants from deportation.
The pro-immigration faction now plans to push GOP members to reject Ryan's plan by voting no to the resolution, ending the growing controversy before it can even be formally heard by the court. The group penned a letter to Ryan and other Republican lawmakers requesting that they publicly vote against the hate they feel the measure represents.
"Those executive actions represent the dreams and aspirations of millions of children, parents and families who have built lives here, who contribute to our economy and our communities and who believe in the promise of America," the letter sent to Ryan said of the president's 2014 actions.
"Once implemented, President Obama's immigration executive action will keep those families together and transform their lives," the letter added. "In doing so, it will make our nation a better place to live for all of us."
The letter is signed by such groups as Unite Here!, United Food and Commercial Workers, Voto Latino and the Service Employees International Union. The group's plan also includes a five-figure digital ad buy and a protest slated to take place outside Ryan's district office in Racine, Wisconsin.
SEIU Targets GOP House Members in Latino Districts
Earlier this month, SEIU members also publicly targeted 25 GOP lawmakers who have significant Latino and Asian populations in their districts, pressuring them to join Democrats who have filed a brief with the court in support of the president's measure.
As Latin Post previously reported, former Solicitor General Paul Clement is set to serve as the GOP's legal mouthpiece on a pro bono basis. House Republicans plan to express their opposition to the president during the oral arguments phase of the trial.
"This is a very extraordinary step," Ryan recently told CNN. The congressman went on to defend his actions and stress that the president was not allowed to write laws.
"In fact, it's never been done before, but this executive amnesty is a direct attack on the Congress' Article 1 powers under our Constitution," Ryan added.
The Obama administration's repeated attempts to pass comprehensive reform legislation through Congress have all stalled amid partisan bickering.
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