(AG.NY.GOV) Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, June 27, 2016 — Today[6-26-16] issued the following statement on the United States Supreme Court’s deadlocked ruling that lets stand the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals preliminary injunction against the Obama Administration’s recent executive actions on immigration, pending a trial:

“I am extremely disappointed that the Supreme Court declined to overrule the lower court’s misguided preliminary injunction. President Obama’s executive actions, if allowed to go forward, would give millions of undocumented immigrants a measure of security, protecting them from deportation and allowing them to work legally and contribute fully to the country they call home.  Instead, they are now once again left in limbo. It’s important to recognize that President Obama was compelled to act in response to Congress’s repeated and inexcusable failure to meaningfully reform our nation’s immigration system. Instead of passing comprehensive immigration reform, many members of Congress continue fanning anti-immigrant flames, and in the process, fail immigrant communities and the nation at large. It is absolutely imperative that Congress finally end the gridlock and do its job by passing comprehensive immigration reform legislation as soon as possible. I urge all members of our nation’s immigrant community to stay strong. Today’s decision may be a setback, but we will continue fighting until all immigrants have the legal rights and economic opportunities they deserve.”

New York and fifteen other states joined an amicus brief authored by the Washington State Attorney General’s Office in United States v. Texas, a legal challenge by Texas and other states to the President’s authority to take executive action on immigration.  The states’ Supreme Court amicus brief, and similar briefs filed in the lower courts, asked that the executive actions be allowed to go forward.