The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) voted today on President Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigration. The ruling, which was only one sentence long, stated that the Court was evenly divided.
The tie is a huge setback for the President and everyone who worked on the immigration plan, as it means the programs that were part of the plan will be blocked from going to effect and will have to return to the lower court. Seeing that President Obama’s term will end in 7 months, it is unlikely that the programs will go into effect while he is the President.
Obama gave a statement about the SCOTUS ruling, in which he deplored the actions of the Court.
“For more than two decades now our immigration system, everybody acknowledges, has been broken. And the fact that the Supreme Court wasn’t able to issue a decision today doesn’t just set the system back even further, it takes us further from the country that we aspire to be.”
“Immigration is not something to fear. We don’t have to wall ourselves off from those who may not look like us right now or pray like we do or have a different last name, because being an American is about something more than that.”
“It is heartbreaking for the millions of immigrants who’ve made their lives here” —@POTUS on #SCOTUS’s ruling: https://t.co/egpB1r3FEN
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 23, 2016
Who knows what will happen to the immigration plan going forward, since the two presumptive nominees from the Democrat and Republican parties have dissenting views regarding the plan and its programs. Both, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump gave statements and also took to Twitter to share their thoughts on the SCOUTS ruling.
“Today’s deadlocked decision from the Supreme Court is unacceptable, and show us all just how high the stakes are in this election,” read Clinton’s statement.
Today’s heartbreaking #SCOTUS immigration ruling could tear apart 5 million families facing deportation. We must do better. -H
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 23, 2016
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Donald Trump, on the other hand stated the following:
“The election, and the Supreme Court appointments that come with it will decide whether or not we have a border and, hence, a country. Clinton has pledged to expand Obama’s executive amnesty, hurting poor African-American and Hispanic workers by giving away their jobs and federal resources to illegal immigrant labor — while making us all less safe.”
SC has kept us safe from exec amnesty–for now. But Hillary has pledged to expand it, taking jobs from Hispanic & African-American workers.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 23, 2016
The SCOTUS ruling will affect more than 4 million undocumented immigrants who were hoping to apply to the programs detailed in the immigration plan, in order to be able to stay legally in the United States and to not be separated from their families.