The Antelope Valley Times

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Obama immigration plan blocked, local activists sound off

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LOS ANGELES – Local immigration-rights activists expressed disappointment Thursday in the U.S. Supreme Court’s inability to reach a decision on President Barack Obama’s effort to expand deportation protection to millions of parents of U.S.-born children, but they vowed to continue fighting for change in immigration policy.

“[The] Supreme Court decision blocking President Obama’s executive action on immigration means that the estimated 1 million undocumented immigrants in Los Angeles County, one in every 10 Los Angeles residents, will be denied the ability to work with the safety of legal authorization and protection from deportation,” said Rusty Hicks, executive secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.

“We in the Los Angeles labor movement will not let this legal setback deter our work on the ground,” Hicks said. “We stand in support of all workers exercising their rights on the job and in the community. We will continue to support immigrants, including undocumented immigrants, in seeking a better wage, better workplace conditions and protection from wage theft that is running rampant throughout our country.”

Obama’s executive action, announced two years ago, would have allowed immigrants who are the parents of U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents to request relief from deportation and authorization to work for three years. To qualify, they must have been in the country for more than five years, pass a criminal background check, pay fees and show that their child was born prior to the issuance of the executive order.

Once qualified, they would have also had to pay taxes.

The order also would have expanded the existing Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which protects immigrants who were brought into the country illegally as children, by removing the upper age limit of 30. The DACA program would have been amended to offer three years of protection from deportation, up from the previous two years.

The actions were challenged in court by officials in several states, and a lower court judge issued an order blocking the actions, leading to the appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The nation’s highest court — still short one member — split Thursday 4-4, meaning the lower court ruling remains in effect.

“Justice turned its back to millions today and the politics of obstruction and xenophobia have triumphed instead,” said Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. “A dark sunset approaches our land when justice, compassion and respect for history are ignored by a divided court.”

Obama told reporters at the White House the court’s inability to reach a decision was a direct result of Republicans blocking his nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court, leaving the panel without a deciding ninth vote following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. Republican lawmakers have said they will not consider Obama’s nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, until after the presidential election in November.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, hailed the court’s decision.

“The Supreme Court’s ruling makes the president’s executive action on immigration null and void,” he said. “The Constitution is clear. The president is not permitted to write laws — only Congress is. This is another major victory in our fight to restore the separation of powers.”

Martha Arevalo, executive director of the Central American Resource Center in Los Angeles, said the fight will continue to protect from deportation immigrants who may be living here illegally but are law-abiding residents.

“Naturally we are disappointed that the Supreme Court couldn’t reach a decision in favor of immigrant families that would have freed them from the fear of deportation and separation,” Arevalo said. “However, we will continue to fight for immigrants’ rights, as we have always done, and we have confidence that history is on our side.”

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Filed Under: Politics

59 comments for "Obama immigration plan blocked, local activists sound off"

  1. The United States should charge Mexico 5 million dollars a year for each illegal immigrant that’s in the US maybe they will f****** stop coming. And stop giving Mexico bailout money and let their own citizens take care of their own country they have no balls to stay in their own country and if any of you people don’t like what I said that’s just tough be more than happy to give you my phone number

    • Very idiot,

      Do you also feel the same about the Canadians undocumented human beings….or just the brown people?

      Trump supporter correct?

      • I don’t believe the Canadians come here and exploit a welfare system they have never, nor have any intention of contributing to!

        • Funny, I don’t believe that about anyone, Canadian or not. This whole “exploit the welfare system” red herring is pretty amazing to me. Where do you people come up with that?

        • Leslie,

          The point that i was trying to make, is that there are other undocumented human beigns, other than Mexicans.

          Numb nuts (very sick of alcoholics) is sick of people on welfare, but not sick of corporate welfare.

          Typical hypocrite republican.

    • Very sick of freeloder republicans,

      Do you also feel the same about the Canadians undocumented human beings….or just the brown people?

      Trump supporter correct?

    • I agree with you 100% .U.S should charge Mexico ,its getting crazy,people who born here hard working citizens get deprived from all a lot,and those coming illegal get everything.They do take our jobs ..Coming in America cant and dint want learn English,complaining all the time ,but yet make that money and then go back to Mexico and living large,and people over here trying figure out how they make it through another day.

      • Marina,

        If you lose your job to an undocumented human being, you deserve it for being an idiott.
        [removed] for brains, how is it that they are taking your jobs away and depriving you of whatever you are deprived of, if…. acording to you, they don’t know or speak english?

        I have a question for you……should the Native Americans have charged the pilgrims when they arrived here?
        Thanks to the undocumented human beigns, many people eat in this country.

  2. Go to these other countries and try to get the same amount of freedom of speech, benefits, etc that we provide. NONE! Give it a break. There are legitimate paths and Asians seem to understand and prosper under this vs hiding in the country as others do.

    • LMAO you must be Asian or else why would you try using them as an example. But let’s talk about the millions of dollars in taxes they don’t have to pay because of all the counter fit Bs they sell LOL Asians hurt our economy as much as illegals do, you can take a seat now.

      • If they sell it then they pay taxes. Unless the books get cooked.
        Counter fitting harms producers though for sure as it cuts into their profits.

        • Counterfeit goods lower prices in the market, which lowers sales taxes, import taxes, as well as the taxable profits of the manufacturer. That’s one point.

          The second point is that in many cases the counterfeit goods have to be brought into the country under faked documentation just because they are counterfeit. A container full of shoes that are sold as “high end brand X” are brought through the port as what they actually are, cheap azz junk, and taxed accordingly. In effect, the books are cooked, sort of automatically just because of the counterfeiting process.

    • Jib joe,

      You really need to get out of your little bubble and travel more. Have been to Puerto Vallarta lately? Or other beach spots in Mexico? You’ll be surprise to learn that many of the businesses are ran and owned by foreigners, a lot of them US citizens. Hell, majority own houses and condos and living like royalty next to the beach.

      Should Mexico start deporting them back to the US and take away their businesses and homes?

      Be careful of what you ask for, cause you may just get it.

  3. Freedom is not Free. The problem is people that are illegal and people that support them forget Freedom is not Free! Generations of our families have fought for this Country’s freedom put their lives on the line and built it for their children. It’s a slap in Veterans faces and disrespect to them and Immigrants who followed the law. I’m with Trump’s opinion. They need to go back to their country and do it legally. It is not racist its called respect for our nation and what it stand for, and our laws. The word Racist shouldn’t even be allowed in the subject of immigration because its about law, and our nations laws are colorblind.

    • Our laws are color blind. Unfortunately our law ENFORCERS are frequently as far from color blind as it is possible to get…from the deputy all the way up to the district attorney and the judge. To pretend other wise is to be a part of the problem, not a solution.

      That said, as a veteran when someone “slaps me in the face” I’m fully capable of letting them know. I’m also descended from immigrants who came to this country with nothing more going for them than someone swimming the river, but they weren’t made to swim the river because at that time the USA had an immigration policy that was quick, efficient, and of course decidedly Euro-centric. It’s pretty amazing how as the source of immigrants has shifted away from Europe the process has gotten longer and longer and more complex. That kind of “I’m here, now let’s shut the door” immigration policy is decidedly NOT what I put my life on the line for.

    • Freedom is free [removed]. And as a veteran my self, I can happily tell you to [removed] and don’t ever use us veterans in your stupid speech. I fought alongside illegals who earned their citizenship, what have you done for our country?

    • Jason,

      You are an ignorant fool. Do you realizr that we have many minorities serving in the military, protecting your right to be a racist and disctiminate against undocumented human beigns?

      By the way, your family is not the only one that has served in the military.

  4. Bob, concur. The problem is, when your racist Trump starts only seeing US citizens people with blondhair and blue eyes.

    Lets make America great again by deporting Trump and all his racists followers.

    • I don’t plan on voting for Trump, but can you cite a source on your statement? People like you are part of the problem, and as a grandchild of a Holocaust survivor, I find your comparison incredibly offensive.

      • Just listen to Trump. “That Mexican judge”…who was born in Indiana. “We let the shooter into the country”…who was born about five miles from where Trump himself was born, in Queens NY. Trump’s test for citizenship is strictly an eyeball test. It may not be “blond hair and blue eyes,” but it sure doesn’t extend to olive skin, black hair, and brown eyes.

      • David, your racist Trump spoke volumes when he made the comments about Judge Curiel, the US citizen from Indiana. You are a holust survivor? So why the hell are people trying to elect another Hitler? You out of all people should be against the POS. Like they say….if we don’t learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it.

        • Did he specifically say that only “true Americans” have blonde hair and blue eyes? Or are you just another low IQ voter who instantly compares every politician to Hitler the second they blink in a way you don’t like? No, I didn’t say I was a “holust” survivor. If you read properly, I stated my grandmother was.

          As someone who grew up on those stories, the fact that you would make that comparison when you know it to be wholly untrue is offensive. Trump will be doing no more “camps” then Obama, Bush, Clinton, or Reagan did. Both sides are always so quick to dismiss the other candidate as the next “Hitler”. Nothing more than inflammatory politics. Perhaps we should start comparing Hillary Clinton to Indira Gandhi.

          • David, you can try to put lipstick on a pig, but at the end of the day, it is still a pig.

  5. “…living here illegally but are law abiding citizens”

    thats a self contradictory statement, if they are here illegally that means they are neither law abiding or citizens.

    Nobody has a problem with people who ligitimately follow the legal process of immigration. In fact the people who are most upset are those who did follow the process very proudly to earn the sense of accomplishment.

    • Actually, the law breaking incident was the entering of the country. If someone wakes up here this morning and goes about their business they are not breaking any law TODAY. The question of illegal immigration is; “how big a deal do we want to make about a crime that was committed (fill in length of time) ago and really has no victim?”

      Generally speaking, people who entered the country illegally however long ago tend to be more law abiding on a day to day basis than most citizens because they face severe consequences if they attract the attention of authorities.

    • Even though immigration has been in a steady decline since 2009, 4.4 million of the 11 million illegals are in the immigration process. But depending on if they already have family here or not, it will take 8 to 20 years, meanwhile they are all considered illegal. Though they are accused of being “lazy and on welfare”, 8.1 million of them, (that’s 74%), maintain low paying jobs. Big business benefits from the slave labor and would love to bring the middle class into that fold.
      Obama wasn’t opening borders, he was trying to improve the legal immigration process for those already here. Congress screwed that up so that their GOP base can continue to scream “evict the illegals”. Unfortunately, if you “could” evict them all, It would crash the economy. An Arizona border town tried it once and that is exactly what happened.

    • Maybe, are you that dumb seriously? Even the people that have waited in line, and have become US citizens, are not seen by republicans as US citizens. That is the problem.

      You have idiots like Tim Scott wanna be, that calls US citizen minorities, anchor babies. Really? An then you wonder why minorities are turning to thedemocratic party.

      This is he same way they see minority police officers, firefighters, doctors, lawyers, engineers, service members, etc.

      Please stop being a hypocrite.

      • Pirrurris
        The defination of illegal, noun- a foreigner who has entered or resides in a country unlawfully or without the country’s authorization. Illegals ruin it for all the people who come here in the proper legal manner. What part of illegal alien don’t you understand?

        • Pancho, i am really trying to to understand.

          So should we also consider the Pilgrims illegal? I guess the illegal pilgrims did ruined it for the Native Americans.

  6. This is wonderful news.
    If you’re here illegally how do you have rights??

    And the more I listen to Bernie and Hitler Hillary I think I’m going with Trump

    • Hillary and Bernie want to open up all borders. We can’t take care of our veterans with many being homeless and the liberals want to spend more money on illegals. Ridiculous, everyone vote for Trump so we will have a better economy. If Hillary gets elected this country will crumble.

      • “Hillary and Bernie want to open up all borders.” That’s outright false.

        “We can’t take care of our veterans with many being homeless and the liberals want to spend more money on illegals.” This has absolutely no logical connections at all. Donald Trump wants to build a trillion dollar wall. Literally no one wants to “spend money on illegals” more than he does. And what that has to do with veterans is anyone’s guess.

        “Ridiculous, everyone vote for Trump so we will have a better economy.” Totally unsupported statement, but at least you gave proper warning that it would be ridiculous. I’m almost afraid to ask the obvious question, but I will. Better for who?

        “If Hillary gets elected this country will crumble.” Same nonsense that you said about Obama in 08, and in 2012. Keep making wild predictions and maybe some day you get lucky; that isn’t going to make for a lot of credibility.

        Now, since it came up, here is the important thing to know about Donald Trump. He WILL ‘make the economy work.’ Just like he made numerous companies work.

        Trump Airlines worked great. Investors lost their money. Employees lost their jobs. But as the company was liquidating assets at fire sale prices Donald bought himself a plane or three for practically nothing, and he still enjoys personal ownership of those planes today.

        Trump’s involvement in the USFL worked great. The league folded, and every investor lost their money. Every player, staff member, etc, lost their jobs. Every ticket buyer lost the price they paid for any advance purchase tickets. But Trump got to sue the NFL owners who had snubbed him and not let him get involved in the NFL, which is what he wanted so it worked great. Only for him, again.

        The list of people that have “Trump burns” and want no part of doing business with him is pretty much endless. No one who has worked for a Trump company that folded in the night will work for him again for any price.

        Learn from them and consider what Trump really means by “making the economy work.” I’d guess his intention is to make the billions that Marcos looted out of the Philippines look like chump change, and leave us holding the bag. That’s “the art of the deal.”

      • Star, please stop with the nonesense. Republicans don’t give a rats ass about veterans or the military. What they docare…..is the military industrial complex. They are also proposing to cut military retirement pensions by 20%. 41 republican senators voted against the vetarans benefits bill. Please stop using vetetans as political decoys to get votes. VOTE DEMOCRAT ACROSS THE BOARD.

        • Pirrurris Democrats are just as bad as Republicans when it comes to caring about Veterans and the problem is that Veterans benefits should not be something that is a political ploy for either side. If we vote Democrat across the board as you wish we would, this Country will look nothing like it has for the last 200 years and we will lose all of our rights and freedoms. The Democratic party is trying to control every aspect of our lives and if you do not see it you need to stop drinking the kool aid and take your blinders off. I am not saying the Republicans are any better they are not and are just as guilty as the Democrats as far as destroying this country. We need a 3rd political party that actually cares about American citizens because both Republicans and Democrats have failed us and no longer take care of American citizens they only want to take care of their political parties view and to hell with what the American Citizens want. Our founding fathers are rolling over in their graves. Go ahead with the name calling and accusations of being racist and bigoted as you usually do, but it is not true for me, I have friends of all nationalities and colors.

          • Russ, really? Democrats are controlling every aspect of our lives? Where the hell have you been? I don’t see democrats trying to tell woman what to do with their vgg’s. I would agree with you if democrats were in control of congress, but they are not. When we have a democrat president, democrat senate, and democrat house, and if things still don’t get done, i will be the first one calling for a third party.

            People need to get their heads out their anal canals, and stop giving democrat presidents, a do nothing republican congress.

        • Pirrurris
          You keep saying that republicans want to cut military pensions by 20%. Both democrats and republicans and also OBAMA are in support of the bill. It only cuts new troops retirement pensions by 20% and it adds 6% of the soldiers basic pay into a 401(k)- style savings plan for those serving more than 2 years. The Defense Department (Obama’s) proposed limited pay raises over the next 5 years. You need to stop lying and get the real facts about things.

          • So it is okay to cut military retirements for the new troops? Why are they not cutting retirement pensions for the cops or firefighters.

          • Why are they not cutting military retirement pensions from tjhe old farts that already are getying 50% or more. Ate they special?

      • Hey, Star

        Trump will likely bankrupt you like he did his casinos.

        You will deserve it along will all the other fools that vote for him, that is if he wins.

        He thinks bankruptcies are good and calls himself the King of Debt. He thinks the loss of trillions of dollars of wealth from Brexit was good. He’ll probably think the same if he causes another great recession here. Then, he can buy your foreclosed house for cheap.

        What could go wrong?

        • William
          I’m not a big fan of Trump but I absolutely can’t vote for Hillary. She is the most corrupt person in politics today. Secret Sevice agent Gary Byrne just released his book “Crisis of Character”
          He describes her as dangerous, abusive and vindictive. Hillary’s pursuit of power she engaged in a variety of self-serving unethical practices in violation of House rules while working on the committee investigating Watergate. This was said by Democrat Jerry Zeifman a counsel and chief of staff of the White House Judiciary Committee. Hillary was fired. I believe she is the best liar in the world with no integrity.

          • Star, you wrote “If Hillary gets elected this country will crumble.”

            Economists have predicted that if Trump is elected president there will be the longest recession ever.

            Take yer pick.

            Sounds like you watch fox ‘news’ and believe everything on it. What she did during Watergate comes out now??? Really? After all these years. Doesn’t that cause you any doubts? Of course not. People like you and birthers will take whatever they believe to their graves.

          • Here ya go, Star

            “Donald Trump’s economic policies are so bad that they would produce the longest U.S. recession since the Great Depression, a report from economists at Moody’s Analytics found last week.

            Assume, as the economists did, that Trump could implement his key economic policies — tax cuts skewed heavily to the one percent, mass deportation of illegal immigrants, and huge tariffs on imports from China and Mexico — during his first two years as president.” from the Huffington Post.

            Now, I made it fine through the bush recession/depression of 2008 and am doing fine now.

            But, I’ll be that you will suffer greatly if Trump is elected and the above prediction comes to pass. You will only have yourself to blame.

          • @Star

            “WASHINGTON — After spending more than two years and $7 million, the House Select Committee on Benghazi released a report Tuesday [today] that found — like eight investigations before it — no evidence of wrongdoing by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or other members of the Obama administration.”

            So, Star. Turn off fox ‘news’ and read the 800 page report from the committee that despite all attempts to destroy Hillary Clinton came up empty-handed just like you have.

          • The following is a list of the attacks at both the U.S. Embassies and the U. S. Consulates, during the Bush Administration:

            1. June 14, 2002…U.S. Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan
            2. Feb. 28, 2003…U.S. Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan
            3. July 30, 2004…U.S. Embassy in Taskkent, Uzbekistan
            4. Dec. 6. 2004…U.S. Consulate in Jeddah, Saudia Arabia
            5. Mar. 2, 2006…U.S. Consulate Karachi, Pakistan
            6. Sept. 12, 2006…U.S. Damascus, Syria
            7. Jan. 12, 2007…U.S. Embassy in Athens, Greece
            8. July 9, 2008…U.S. Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey
            9. Mar. 18, 2008…U.S. Embassy in Sana’a, Yemen
            10.Sept. 17, 2008…U.S. Embassy in Sana’a, Yemen

          • William, but you will not hear a peep from FOX about all these attacks.

            Nor will you get outragged teabaggers and republicans.

  7. Illegal immigration from Mexico and Central America is a huge problem. These people say that they “want a better life”. What if the U’S’ would take over their countries, end the massive corruption that allows a small elite ruling class to live in opulence while the masses can’t get by. Think about it! The U.S. could turn these countries around and make them very livable places. Of course then the masses will scream about U.S. imperialism. But isn’t that what illegal immigrants are in a sense acquiescing to by coming here! Activists might want to start advocating the U.S. taking over their countries and that was the coyotes lose and families are not broken up.

    • You are actually missing the point of US imperialism. The “small elite ruling class” in those countries is maintained in power by US trade. They trade the resources their peasant class produces and/or the products their peasant class produces from those resources for the necessary tools to maintain the oppression that makes those products cheap enough to be desirable in the US market while still providing the hefty profits that support OUR small elite ruling class.

      If you add those countries into the US they have to operate by the same rules that apply here. That means a new ruling elite that isn’t interested in having them produce affordable goods, they need to be obsessive consumers that will reliably trade their time and liberty for a pair of sneakers or a house ten times bigger than they really need. That transition is hard to achieve. It has taken generations to produce the modern American.

    • Another bob, so illegal immigration from south america is a huge problem, but not the illegal immigration from Canada?

      the next thing you are gojng to tell me is that you ard not a racist.