Obama 'disappointed' after SC blocks immigration reforms

United States President Barack Obama on Thursday said that the US Supreme Court’s decision to block his immigration executive action was ‘disappointing’ and ‘takes us further from the country that we aspire to be.’

Earlier, a 4-4 tie vote by the Supreme Court blocked Obama’s immigration plan that sought to shield millions living in the US illegally from deportation.

The tie vote means the benefit for undocumented immigrants is on hold as the case returns to the lower court in Texas that initially froze the action.

In this case, the federal appeals court in New Orleans said the Obama Administration lacked the authority to shield up to four million immigrants from deportation and make them eligible for work permits without approval from the Congress.

It’s now unlikely the Obama Administration programme will go into effect.

However, an optimistic Obama said, “I promise you, though, that sooner or later immigration reforms will get done.”

“One of the reasons why America is such a diverse and inclusive nation is because we’re a nation of immigrants,” he said.

Texas led 26 Republican-dominated states in challenging the program Obama announced in November 2014. Congressional Republicans also backed the states’ lawsuit.

The Obama administration announced the programmes protections for parents of children who are in the country legally and an expansion of the program that benefits people who were brought to this country as children in November 2014.

Obama decided to move forward after Republicans won control of the Senate in the 2014 midterm elections, and the chances for an immigration overhaul, already remote, were further diminished.

The Senate had passed a broad immigration bill with Democratic and Republican support in 2013, but the measure went nowhere in the GOP-controlled House of Representatives.

The states quickly went to court to block the Obama initiatives.