The U.S. Supreme Court announced Tuesday it will rule on the legality of President Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigration. Politicians, immigration reform groups and recipients of deferred deportation under DACA shared their reactions on social media.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., whose record on immigration had included supporting bipartisan reform, but has then shifted to a more hardline view on immigration, was the first of the presidential candidates to post a reaction to social media, saying he was confident the Court would rule the president's executive actions unconstitutional.
Illinois Congressman Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., posted a statement to his website sharing his utmost support of Obama’s executive actions.
“We expected the Supreme Court to take up the case and we expect the president’s point of view will prevail. The law, the legal precedent, and the people are on the president’s side,” Gutierrez wrote. “Opponents of immigration and the president’s executive actions have tried to run out the clock on his presidency and want immigrants to remain in limbo, living and working here, but always under the threat of imminent deportation.”
He also took to Twitter to share his opinions on the legality of the case.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton tweeted her support of Obama’s actions, saying they should stay in place.
Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, the Senate's minority leader, released a statement blaming House Republicans’ refusal to vote on Comprehensive Immigration Reform pushed Obama to sign executive actions.
“President Obama took these actions only after House Republicans refused to vote on the bipartisan immigration reform bill passed by the Senate in 2013,” Reid writes. “Republicans have had countless opportunities to act responsibly to resolve our immigration problems.”
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus said the Supreme Court’s decision to hear United States v. Texas is a step fin the "right direction" and defended Obama.
"Every president since Ronald Reagan has used their executive authority to act on immigration," the statement reads. "Like Republican and Democratic presidents before him, President Obama used his authority given to him by Congress to end the uncertainty millions of families have been living with for far too long."
Congresswoman Linda T. Sánchez, a California Democrat who is also the Chairwoman of the CHC, expressed her positive sentiments.
Marielena Hincapié, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center which filed an amicus brief to get the case in front of the Supreme Court, hopes contributing, undocumented immigrants in the U.S. will “live without fear.”
“The legal argument is clear: President Obama, like every president before him for nearly half a century, can and should exercise discretion in immigration matters,” she stated. “But the moral, economic, and societal arguments in favor of the president’s immigration initiatives are no less important.”
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Tony Suarez, the Vice President of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, tweeted multiple times about the SCOTUS decision, first saying the justices consider the “humanity of the issue.”
Chris Newman, the Legal Director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, said in a statement that this lawsuit is representative of another GOP effort to “denude President Obama’s executive authority.
“It is now time for the Supreme Court to put an end to what can only be described as a racially-motivated campaign to block progress,” he wrote. "Those who vapidly invoke law and order arguments in order to sow fear, division, and hatred should focus their attention on the myriad constitutional violations that occur every day as the result of outdated and unjust national immigration policy.”
Activists in favor of DAPA and DACA, and the recipients of the orders, are expressing their excitement for the SCOTUS announcement.
