opinion

Immigration ruling will bite the GOP

Calling it "disappointing" but not unexpected, immigration reform advocates insist that an appeals court ruling against President Obama's executive actions on immigration is just a temporary setback.

"We will prevail," says Marielena Hincapie of the National Immigration Law Center. "We know we are on the right side of justice."

Meanwhile, the 2016 Republican candidates are on the wrong side of history. They know it. But they don't dare say it.

This case helps assure immigration will be a big campaign issue – and it's not a winner for the right.

Two of three judges on a panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals refused to lift a preliminary injunction issued by a district judge in Brownsville, Texas. In February, U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Hanen ruled in favor of 26 states – including Arizona -- that sued to stop Obama's attempt to expand deferred deportation to Dreamers, and extend protections to millions of their parents.

The appeals court ruling is about the injunction. In July, the appeals court will look at the substance of Hanen's decision. But in refusing to lift the injunction, this panel said the government was unlikely to prevail based on the merits of the case.

Advocates want Obama to go directly to the Supreme Court. But even if he does so, a ruling might not happen until next summer.

Hincapie said "our communities suffer every day" that the deferred deportation is delayed.

"This is a political attack on our community," she said. "This is a political lawsuit."

When it comes to immigration, there is too much politics and far too little common sense or common decency.

Obama's action was about both.

He acted after years of inaction by Congress. His executive action does not represent an earth-shaking overreach of his authority. He did not confer legal status on the undocumented by telling immigration authorities to defer deportation of people who have lived and worked here peacefully for years. He merely gave them temporary legal presence.

Obama told immigration authorities to exercise prosecutorial discretion, which they do all the time. He tried to inject some reality and humanity into a situation where 11 to 12 million people live and work in the United States under the shadow of deportation.

This lawsuit leaves them in limbo.

It also assures immigration will be an issue the GOP candidates can't escape.

Republican presidential wanna-bes are already "twisting themselves in knots in response to questions about immigration," says Debbie Smith of the Service Employees International Union.

The memory of Mitt Romney self-destructing on this issue is fresh in many GOP minds. Yet getting past the primary will mean more talk of self-deportation – or worse. So far the GOP field has not pleased the puppet masters on the right.

The anti-immigration group NumbersUSA sent out press release rating the presidential candidates on their border-hawk credentials. Not surprisingly, Hillary Clinton got an F.

But the GOP didn't do much better. Jeb Bush, Rand Paul and Mike Huckabee got a D-plus, Marco Rubio got a D-minus. The only A student in the bunch was Rick Santorum.

Good luck with that, Republicans.