US Bishops Mourn Supreme Court Ruling on Immigration

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WASHINGTON (ChurchMilitant.com) - United States bishops are condemning Thursday's Supreme Court vote effectively blocking Obama's attempt to force states to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants.

The chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) Committee on Migration — Bp. Eusebio Elizondo — called the decision "a huge disappointment."

"It means millions of families will continue to live in fear of deportation and without the immediate ability to improve their lives through education and good jobs," he complained.

USCCB statements from earlier in the year claim deportations are being carried out on women and children and are tearing families apart. But in 2013 alone Pew Research noted nearly 60 percent of migrants deported from the United States were convicted of state or federal crimes. A report from the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) shows that 95 percent of deportees between 2009 and 2013 were criminals.

Thursday the Supreme Court voted 4–4 on Obama's immigration plan, a split vote that set no precedent and caused the case to default to the lower court ruling, which held that the 2014 plan to shield nearly 4 million immigrants from deportation was unconstitutional.

When the U.S House of Representatives became majority Republican in 2014, Obama sought to circumvent the legal process and impose his agenda on states. But 26 states, led by Texas, sued the administration in federal court and won in both the district and appellate courts.

U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen heard the first case in Brownsville, Texas and ruled against the administration, which appealed to the 5th U.S. Court of Appeals, also ruling against Obama.

House Speaker Paul Ryan praised the verdict. "Today, Article I of the Constitution was vindicated. … The Constitution is clear: The president is not permitted to write laws — only Congress is. This is another major victory in our fight to restore the separation of powers."

The USCCB, however, is seen by some as a cheerleader for Obama's immigration plans because it receives billions of dollars from the U.S. government to resettle immigrants. It was reported last year that in 2014 the USCCB received over $80 million for its migration fund alone.

Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch writes:

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is calling for the U.S. to take in 100,000 Syrian refugees this year alone, with no regard for the fact that the Islamic State said last February that it would soon flood Europe with as many as 500,000 refugees, or for the fact that an Islamic State operative recently boasted that among the flood of refugees, 4,000 Islamic State jihadis had entered Europe, or for the fact that the Lebanese Education Minister said that there were 20,000 jihadis among the refugees in camps in his country, or for the fact that 80 percent of the migrants who claim to be fleeing the war in Syria aren't actually from Syria at all, or for the fact that German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said that the Islamic State was sneaking into the country with the refugees and was active in the refugee camps.

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