Coalition of States Sues Obama on Immigration

A coalition of 17 U.S. states have sued the Obama administration citing that the government acted illegally by issuing an executive order to ease the threat of deportation for millions of people who are in the country without documentation. The case is being led by Texas and has been filed at the Federal Court in the Southern District of Texas. Many of the states in the coalition are Republican strongholds including Alabama, Idaho, Mississippi and Utah among others.

The case states that the executive order issued by Obama in November violated the constitutional limits on presidential powers. The White House has responded saying that the executive order falls within the jurisdiction of presidential powers and has also argued that the final say is for Congress to pass significant immigration reform.

The lawsuit is not seeking monetary damages but looks to have the order declared illegal said Texas Attorney General Greg Abbot, a Republican and the Texas Governor-Elect.

Obama's executive order would allow nearly 4.7 million of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States to stay without threat of deportation, including some 4.4 million who are parents of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents.