Page 24 - Sonoma County Gazette October 2018

WHY One Justice on the Supreme Court MATTERS
One judge can make a huge difference in many lives—
In 2015, one federal judge in Texas unilaterally blocked an Executive Order issued by President Obama called DAPA that would have extended a reprieve from deportation and a work permit to 5 million people. Later that same year, the difference on the federal appeals court was one judge in a 2-1 ruling affirming the decision of that Texas judge.
including the lives of immigrants.
And one justice on the Supreme Court would have tipped the balance
in June 2016, when the vote on that Court tied 4-4 on whether the law was constitutional, leaving the Texas judge’s unprecedented ruling in place. Justice Scalia had died in February and the Republicans had blocked Obama’s nominee to replace him—Merrick Garland -- who would have likely voted in favor of the law.
That DAPA law was modeled after DACA but applied to all undocumented immigrants with a clean record and U.S. citizen children. Immigration advocates heralded it as a temporary solution for a huge segment of our local North Bay undocumented population. Probably more than 25,000 immigrant families in Sonoma County alone would have benefited from DAPA.
Instead, while the case was still on review, Donald Trump won the election and promptly killed the law. As a result, 5 million immigrants are still in limbo, living in the shadows, in fear of deportation.
Now DACA and our sanctuary laws are at stake.
Currently, the state of Texas is leading an effort to repeal DACA as unconstitutional. They have filed again in the same federal court in
JUSTICE cont’d on page 25
24 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 10/18