Expert: SCOTUS Could Strip Congress of Control Over Immigration

As the battle over immigration rages on, Congress could soon find itself with little control over the bitterly contested issue, a top expert warns.

"For decades, the Supreme Court has held that authority over immigration is shared between the political branches — the legislative and the executive,"says Jon Feere, legal policy analyst at the Center for Immigration Studies, in an article for The Hill.

"But if the court sides with the Obama administration in United States v. Texas, that balance will forever be upset and Congress will find itself with little recourse."

If President Obama wins in the case, Congress could for all practical purposes be left out in the cold regarding immigration, according to Feere's column for The Hill.

"Now more than ever, Congress needs to be responsive to the people," Feere writes. "But it cannot be if the Supreme Court largely strips Congress of its authority over immigration and empowers the executive branch to a greater extent than it already has."

According to the Houston Press the case dates back to 2014 when Obama issued an executive order announcing the federal government would defer deportation and offer work permits for about 4 million undocumented immigrants who are the parents of U.S. citizens or legal residents.

"Of course, the states didn't take kindly to the President's executive action," the Press notes.

"Texas lawyers claim Obama is trying to change immigration law by going around Congress with the executive order."

And Feere adds: "If the policies are allowed to stand, it would be a huge incentive for the executive branch to conduct more sweeping policy changes through memos rather than through the administrative process."

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