WH: Immigration ruling doesn't disrupt enforcement priorities


10/3/16 3:49 PM


"[We] are focusing our efforts on felons, not families," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters Monday,
noting that the administration has prioritized deporting "those who pose a threat to our national security and criminals.
" Still, he called the Court's ruling "disappointing." (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

The Supreme Court's decision not to review a lower court finding against President Obama's controversial action on immigration won't stop it from focusing on its own set of immigration priorities in the last few months Obama is in office, the White House said Monday.

"[We] are focusing our efforts on felons, not families," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters Monday, noting that the administration has prioritized deporting "those who pose a threat to our national security and criminals." Still, he called the Court's ruling "disappointing."

In June, a 4-4 deadlocked court failed to rule on the executive action, which had the effect of sustaining the lower court's decision that Obama likely exceeded his authority in issuing the executive action.

The Supreme Court rarely grants motions for rehearing, as the administration was seeking in this case. The administration's lawyers filed the request to the high court just in case the seat left vacant by the late Justice Antonin Scalia had been filled by now.

Senate Republicans have blocked consideration of Merrick Garland, an appeals court judge, to the high court, arguing that the next president should fill the election-year opening on the bench. But Earnest said the Monday ruling shows it's time for Republicans to relent and move Garland's nomination along.

"There are other actions that the Supreme Court was unable to hear — they were unable to reach a verdict in evaluating the constitutionality" of Obama's executive action allowing deferred deportation for nearly 4 million immigrants that have been in the country since 2010 and have not committed any serious crimes, he said.

"The inability of the Supreme Court to put forward a ruling has a negative impact on millions of people in the U.S. — the American people deserve better," he said.

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