Civil and Human Rights Coalition Responds to Ruling on President’s Immigration Actions

WASHINGTON – Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit denied the U.S. Department of Justice’s request for an emergency stay in Texas v. United States, the lawsuit challenging President Obama’s executive action on immigration:

“Yesterday’s decision by the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to continue blocking President Obama’s executive actions on immigration serves only to delay relief to millions of immigrant families and to prevent them from coming forward and living and working openly in the country they call home.

This decision means that the hardworking immigrants who contribute to our economy every day must continue to wait for relief, living in fear of deportation and being torn from their families. By denying the Department of Justice’s request for an emergency stay, the Fifth Circuit has chosen partisanship over families in this politically motivated, anti-immigrant case.

While we are disappointed by the decision, we are confident that President Obama’s commonsense, morally right, and economically smart immigration initiatives will prevail. His executive actions are on the right side of the law—and on the right side of history.”

Wade Henderson is president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference, visit www.civilrights.org.