Texas Gov.-elect Greg Abbott announced 17 states will sue President Barack Obama's administration after Obama announced plans to protect more than 4 million unauthorized immigrants from deportation.
Obama announced plans Nov. 20 to expand the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals to include about 4 million parents of legal residents along with a host of other changes.
Obama's actions met stiff verbal resistance from Republicans in Congress as well as various governors.
“The President’s action violates his constitutional duty to faithfully enforce immigration laws that were duly enacted by Congress, circumvents the will of the American people and is an affront to the families and individuals who follow our laws to legally immigrate to the United States,” Abbott said in a statement on his website. “The State of Texas will assert a legal action against President Obama’s unconstitutional abuse of power.”
Abbott told Fox News that though other presidents, Republican and Democrat, have deferred deportations in certain cases, no one has filed a legal challenge against those. Abbott also said Obama does not have the legal ability to offer rights to people not being prosecuted.
The Obama administration has maintained he has the legal right to create the plan.
The federal lawsuit involves Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin, according to The Associated Press.
