Obama to ask supreme court to approve deportation shield plan

US president faces prospect of block to efforts to fix country’s immigration system

US president Barack Obama speaks at the Center for Law and Justice at Rutgers University-Newark in New Jersey, on November 2nd. Mr Obama is to ask the Supreme Court to clear the way for his long-delayed immigration overhaul. Photograph: Zach Gibson/The New York Times
US president Barack Obama speaks at the Center for Law and Justice at Rutgers University-Newark in New Jersey, on November 2nd. Mr Obama is to ask the Supreme Court to clear the way for his long-delayed immigration overhaul. Photograph: Zach Gibson/The New York Times

US president Barack Obama intends to ask the US supreme court to approve his sweeping plans to shield millions of illegal immigrants from deportation after a federal appeals court rejected his actions.

The department of justice said it planned to ask the court to reconsider Mr Obama’s executive actions after the three-judge fifth circuit court of appeals on Monday upheld a ban by a Texas district court judge blocking the deportation protections.

Opponents argued Mr Obama’s actions, which would have temporarily protected as many as five million “undocumented” immigrants, were illegal and amounted to presidential “overreach”.

Mr Obama introduced the executive orders last year, bypassing Congress objectors after Republicans repeatedly blocked proposed legislation.

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The president faces the prospect of seeing his efforts at fixing the country’s immigration system stymied before he leaves office in 2017.

Simon Carswell

Simon Carswell

Simon Carswell is News Editor of The Irish Times