Justice Dept. to Appeal Immigration Ruling

[Content Note: Anti-immigrant sentiment; racism.]

Yesterday, US District Judge Andrew Hanen "temporarily blocked President Barack Obama's executive action on immigration, giving a coalition of 26 states time to pursue a lawsuit that aims to permanently stop the orders. [The ruling] puts on hold Obama's orders that could spare from deportation as many as five million people who are in the U.S. illegally."

It also delays the President's proposed program to shield immigrant and migrant children from deportation if they were brought into the US without documentation. That program was to begin tomorrow.

Today, the Justice Department has announced it will appeal Judge Hanen's ruling: "The Justice Department, legal scholars, immigration experts, and the federal district court in Washington have determined that Obama's actions are well within his legal authority, the White House said."

And, let us recall, the reason the President took executive action to address immigration is because Congress refused to do it. In fact, Congressional Republican leadership explicitly and publicly urged the President to take executive action when they didn't want to take a position.

Now, at the one yard line, with millions of immigrants' lives and futures hanging in the balance, we've decided to play another 'round of Screw Obama and Who Cares Who Gets Hurt in the Process, because gamespersonship is always and forever more important in US politics than harm reduction.