Legality of Obama’s Immigration Initiatives
Executive Branch Authority Over Immigration Enforcement
This report answers key legal questions related to immigration-related actions announced by the Obama Administration on November 20, 2014. What is the legal authority for the Administration’s actions? Although each specific Administration action involves somewhat different legal authorities, three broad types of legal authority can be said to underlie all these actions: (1) prosecutorial or enforcement discretion; (2) express delegations of authority to the executive by Congress; and (3) the executive’s discretion in interpreting and applying immigration law when congressional enactments are “silent or ambiguous” on specific issues. Prosecutorial or Enforcement Discretion. The Judicial and Executive branches have repeatedly recognized…
