For Immediate Release
(Redwood City, CA) – As part of Cities for Action, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors joins a broad coalition of cities and counties that are filing a friend-of-the-court amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in United States v. Texas today, urging the Court to overturn a lower court’s decision and allow President Obama’s executive action on immigration to move forward. The brief, signed by 118 cities and counties representing 35 states, argues that the nationwide injunction blocking implementation of the President’s executive action on immigration was erroneously entered and should be reversed because it places millions of families in our cities and counties at economic and personal risk. Locally, six Bay Area counties have signed on to the amicus brief, including San Francisco, Alameda, Marin, Santa Clara, Sonoma and San Mateo Counties along with the major municipalities of San Francisco, San Jose and Sacramento.
On February 25th, in closed session, (a portion of the board meeting reserved to discuss personnel and legal matters), the supervisors voted unanimously to join other local governments in support of the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programs. Both programs were created by executive order but were later successfully challenged in court by the state of Texas (joined by 25 other states).
Together, these two programs provide relief from deportation to about 4 million undocumented immigrants who have been in the country since 2010 and who have children who are citizens or permanent residents or who came to the United States as children and meet certain educational requirements.
Board President Supervisor Warren Slocum requested that the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors join this action saying, “It’s rare that our Board weighs in on a Supreme Court brief, but this will have a direct and immediate impact on the lives of 24,000 San Mateo County residents. These residents are largely voiceless. It is up to us to express our support for these programs that bring stability to the lives of children and families and strengthen the local economy in our County.”
Statistics published by the Migration Policy Institute located in Washington D.C. indicate that there are about 16,000 people in San Mateo County that are eligible for the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans program and another 8,000 for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to begin hearing arguments in the United States v. Texas case beginning April 18, 2016 and likely render a decision in early June.