On Tuesday, January 19, District Attorney General Karl A. Racine announced his public support of the Supreme Court case United States v. Texas. The case will review President Obama’s recent executive action involving immigration reform. Obama has been pushing the government to create an easier path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. The Attorney General believes that Obama’s actions have been within his constitutional authority, and will ultimately benefit the United States. “There are strong legal arguments that support the Presidents’ solution to create a pathway to legal residency,” Racine said, “we are confident that the Court will overturn the decision by a divided three-judge panel that blocked these actions.”
Previously, the Office of the Attorney General and a coalition of states filed a brief arguing that a lower court was incorrect in assuming that the President’s actions would harm states. The brief posited that immigration reform would benefit the American economy by enabling immigrants to participate more in American society by earning fair wages and paying a fair share of taxes.
One organization that will be directly impacted by the review is DC Doors, a nonprofit that works with the local undocumented homeless population. Janethe Peña, the organization’s founder and executive director, hopes the review will push immigration reform in the right direction. “If they’re able to create any kind of pathway, even a tiered pathway, that will help the community,” she said. “The people we work with are still in the shadows. They’re unable to be a full part of the community because they don’t know what they can and can’t do, or what their punishments might be.” Peña hopes that the Attorney General’s review will be able to provide a clearer path through the documentation process, and give currently undocumented immigrants an opportunity to contribute to their families and the economy.
