Texas Attorney General and Gov.-elect Greg Abbott said a lawsuit over President Obama’s recent executive actions granting legal status to nearly 5 million illegal immigrants will be filed “any day now.”
“We are dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s,” he said Monday on Fox News’ “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren.”
Mr. Abbott said that there is a difference between Mr. Obama’s actions and executive actions taken by Republican Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush on immigration because the two former presidents were executing laws passed by Congress.
“While the president or his attorneys may have the discretion whether or not to prosecute someone, they don’t have the authority to give rights to people they are not prosecuting and put burdens on other agencies to carry out all these orders so this is, as you know, far from prosecutorial discretion,” he said.
Mr. Obama’s plan temporarily shields from deportation illegal immigrants who have been in the country at least five years and who have a child who is a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident.
It also removes the upper age limit for illegal immigrant children, or so-called Dreamers, from applying to the government’s deferred action for childhood arrivals (DACA) program.
Mr. Abbott said Texas is harmed because DACA led to as many as 1,000 people a day coming across the border from Central America this year and that the president’s actions will have a similar cause-and-effect relationship.
Mr. Abbott’s comments come as Republicans on Capitol Hill try to figure out a spending plan to keep the government running past Dec. 11, but also give members a chance to respond to Mr. Obama’s actions.
The House is already suing over Mr. Obama’s health care overhaul, alleging that the president unlawfully delayed parts of the law and that the government is paying out funds to insurers without getting approval from Congress.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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