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Monday\u2019s\u00a0decision<\/a>\u00a0from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to affirm the halting of the President\u2019s DAPA amnesty program was a mighty big win for immigration patriots around the country. But the ramifications of the court\u2019s decision may actually be bigger than most appreciate. The recently leaked\u00a0revelations<\/a>\u00a0that the President has other, grander plans besides DAPA to hand out work permits en masse means that his wider immigration agenda may also now be in flux. The same goes for previously enacted work permit giveaways, including the 2012 DACA amnesty as well as other equally unlawful programs aimed at appeasing the President, the Hispanic extremist lobbies, and the Big Business. In his final year in office, we may just see the toppling of Obama\u2019s entire immigration legacy.<\/p>\n
Unlike the previous court decisions in the States\u2019 case against amnesty, which have focused more on the deportation-deferral portion of DAPA, the Fifth Circuit\u2019s decision\u00a0on Monday\u00a0targeted\u00a0the President\u2019s purported employment authorization powers.\u00a0As the court described Obama\u2019s attorneys\u2019 position on this issue, \u201c[t]he interpretation of those provisions that the Secretary advances would allow him to grant lawful presence and\u00a0work authorization<\/em>\u00a0to any illegal alien in the United States\u201d (emphasis mine). This they called, \u201can untenable position in light of the INA’s intricate system of immigration classifications and employment eligibility.\u201d\u00a0For a close discussion of that \u201cintricate system\u201d see\u00a0here<\/a>. The majority further stated \u201cthe INA flatly does not permit the reclassification of millions of illegal aliens as lawfully present and thereby make them newly eligible for a host of federal and state benefits,\u00a0including work authorization<\/em>.\u201d (emphasis mine). This was a big hit to a central part of the Obama team\u2019s argument.<\/p>\n
The key provision advanced by the Obama administration to support its supposedly limitless work authorization powers, 8 U.S.C.\u00a0\u00a71324a(h)(3), had for decades up until the DACA amnesty simply been understood as defining the term \u201cunauthorized alien\u201d for purposes of the INA\u2019s employer prohibition on hiring illegal aliens. The definition excludes those aliens to whom Congress has instructed the DHS secretary to grant work authorization and those aliens to whom Congress has instructed the DHS secretary to exercise discretion as to whether to grant work authorization under specified criteria. Since DACA, DHS has been using their \u201cnewfound\u201d powers under the provision to create several work permit giveaways, including to spouses of H-1B visa holders and to foreign STEM-graduates. Dependent spouses of H-1B visa recipients obtain so-called “H-4”\u00a0visas, a program that\u2019s been in place since the H-1B was created under the Immigration Act of 1990. It was only this year, however, that the administration decided it actually had the authority to provide such spouses with work authorizations. Implemented last spring, the DHS move has led to tens of thousands of open-market work permits going to those who went from having no work permits for decades to now having more job market flexibility than their H-1B dependents, who\u00a0are tied to their employers for the duration of their visas. The\u00a0Immigration Reform Law Institute<\/a>\u00a0(IRLI), whom I work for, is challenging the move in federal court.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nContinue reading the story\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n