General
SCOTUS Amicus Curiae Brief of Faith-Based Organizations in Support of the United States and Reversal in United States v. Texas, et al. (2016)
SCOTUS Amicus Curiae Brief of Faith-Based Organizations in Support of the United States and Reversal in United States v. Texas, et al. , 2016.
Faith plays a significant role in the lives of most recent migrants and their families, and faith-based organizations like Amici historically have played a leading role in the U.S. in serving their needs. Amici have an interest in and derive benefits, spiritual and otherwise, from helping those less fortunate within our society, including those in immigrant communities. Amici count many thousands of U.S. immigrants (authorized and unauthorized) within their congregations and minister to them and their families. Amici help immigrants obtain legal status and otherwise advocate for and provide resources and aid to immigrant families. Through their faith-based work, Amici have unique and firsthand knowledge of the adverse impacts that family separation, immigration detention and deportation have on immigrant families in the U.S., particularly young children.
In this litigation a few select states (“Plaintiffs”) have challenged the Federal Government’s implementation of certain immigration guidelines set forth in multiple memoranda issued by the Secretary of Homeland Security (the “Secretary”), including the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (the “Immigration Guidance”). The effect of the Immigration Guidance is to stay deportation proceedings for four to five million individuals residing in the U.S. who pose no threat to national security or public safety and who have longstanding and close family ties to the U.S. The Guidance was issued in part to address the enormous humanitarian costs associated with unwarranted deportations and enables millions of individuals in congregations across the country to remain in the U.S. with their family members and to worship freely.
The Immigration Guidance provides important benefits to those most vulnerable in our society and to those who serve them. By reducing unwarranted deportations, the Immigration Guidance also ensures that the public will continue to benefit from the substantial contributions of recent immigrants. Because the Immigration Guidance provides substantial humanitarian benefits, it represents a valid exercise of the Secretary’s prosecutorial discretion the review of which is not justiciable. Accordingly, the Fifth Circuit erred and its decision should be reversed and the injunction against the Guidance should be vacated.