US immigration reform has been in the news yet again, but what exactly has happened and what does it mean in terms of going forward? Here are some brief bullet points outlining the situation:
1. On 16 February 2015, federal judge Andrew Hanen issued an injuction ordering the Obama Administration to temporarily halt implementation of executive action on immigration.
2. The Department of Homeland Security has announced that it will not begin implementing immigration relief on 18 February 2015, as originally planned.
3. The White House has criticised the temporary injunction and is seeking to prevent the injunction from going into effect. The Fifth Circuit is expected to rule on this matter in the next few weeks.
This does NOT mean that President Obama's executive action on immigration has been found to be unconstitutional. In fact, the US states are split in this matter, some suing President Obama to halt his immigration efforts, whereas others have officially proclaimed support for the President's actions. US immigration experts have overwhelmingly confirmed that executive action on US immigration has a well-grounded legal basis. President Obama's actions have been supported by the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), whose reaction to the temporary injunction can be read here, and by a group of 136 US law university professors who penned an open letter explaining the legal basis for the president's actions.
Want to read more? This Vox article lays out all the details on the current situation.