17 states file lawsuit Obama immigration order

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, left, is joined by Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McGraw, during a news conference on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2014 at the Capitol in Austin. AP

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas is leading a 17-state coalition in suing over the Obama administration’s recently announced executive actions on immigration.

Many top Republicans have denounced President Barack Obama’s unilateral move designed to spare as many as 5 million people living illegally in the United States from deportation. Obama has said the executive action was necessary because the Republican-controlled House has failed to pass a sweeping, bipartisan immigration approved by the Senate.

Texas Gov.-elect Greg Abbott took filed the lawsuit in federal court in the Southern District of Texas. Texas is joined by 16 other, mostly southern and Midwestern states, including Alabama, Georgia, Idaho and Indiana.

Under Obama’s order, announced Nov. 20, protection from deportation and the right to work will be extended to an estimated 4.1 million parents of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents who have lived in the U.S. for at least five years and to hundreds of thousands more young people.

Abbott argued Wednesday that Obama’s action “tramples” portions of the U.S. Constitution.

The lawsuit raises three objections: that Obama violated the “Take Care Clause” of the U.S. Constitution that limits the scope of presidential power; that the federal government violated rulemaking procedures; and that the order will “exacerbate the humanitarian crisis along the southern border, which will affect increased state investment in law enforcement, health care and education.”