New York 4/13/2015 - New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio declared today that an alliance of cities and counties filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in the Texas vs. United States lawsuit in favor of President Obama’s executive orders and petitioning the Court to immediately carry out President Obama’s executive orders on immigration.
Bill de Blasio and his counterpart, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti coordinated Cities United for Immigration Action, by rallying support of cities and counties across the United States. They were joined by the National League of Cities and U.S. Conference of Mayors.
Obama’s executive actions, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DAPA) and Deferred Action for Parents of American and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) would suspend deportation for approximately 5 million people.
According to the group the argument in the “friend-of-the-court” brief is that by blocking the implementation of the orders would result in serous injury to local governments, is not good for families, destroys current law enforcement priorities and stops “desperately needed changes” to federal immigration policy.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said the “continuing to delay implementation of the President’s executive action on immigration hurts our economy and puts families at risk…cities are where immigrants live, and cities are where the President’s executive action will be successfully implemented. Our cities are united, and we will fight for the immigration reform this nation needs and deserves – whether in the courtroom, in Congress, or in our communities. Make no mistake about it: our voices will be heard.”
A significant number of cities and counties aligned themselves with today’s brief are situated in states that originally commenced the lawsuit against the Obama administration or have clearly supported the lawsuit. These cities and counties include five cities in Texas, six in New Jersey, three municipalities in Wisconsin and two counties in Arizona, and. The cities and counties that signed on to the brief are listed below.
Alexandria, VA
Allentown, PA
Atlanta, GA
Austin, TX
Baltimore, MD
Bell, CA
Boston, MA
Bridgeport, CT
Buffalo, NY
Cambridge, MA
Central Falls, RI
Chapel Hill, NC
Charleston, SC
Chicago, IL
Coconino County, AZ
Columbia, SC
Columbus, OH
Dallas County, TX
Dayton, OH
Denver, CO
Dolton, IL
El Paso County, TX
Everett, MA
Gary, IN
Haledon, NJ
Hartford, CT
Highland Park, IL
Hoboken, NJ
Holyoke, MA
Houston, TX
Jersey City, NJ
Kansas City, MO
Little Rock, AR
Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles County, CA
Lucas County, OH
Madison, WI
Milwaukee, WI
Minneapolis, MN
Montgomery County, MD
Newark, NJ
New York, NY
Niagara Falls, NY
North Miami, FL
Oakland, CA
Paterson, NJ
Philadelphia, PA
Pittsburgh, PA
Plainfield, NJ
Portland, OR
Providence, RI
Racine, WI
Ramsey County, MN
Rochester, NY
Salt Lake City, UT
San Francisco, CA
San Jose, CA
Santa Ana, CA
Santa Cruz County, AZ
Santa Fe, NM
Santa Monica, CA
Schenectady, NY
Seattle, WA
Skokie, IL
St. Louis, MO
State College, PA
Syracuse, NY
Tacoma, WA
Tampa, FL
Travis County, TX
Washington, D.C.
West Covina, CA
Yonkers, NY
National League of Cities
U.S. Conference of Mayors
U.S. Representative Carolyn Maloney said “I applaud Mayor de Blasio for working with cities across the nation to support President Obama’s executive actions on immigration”
State Senator Leroy Comrie of New York said “ Not only is it in our best interest to immediately implement the President's platform for immigration reform, but it is the socially and morally responsible thing to do.”
