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Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn helps defend Obama immigration actions in court

 
Published April 6, 2015

TAMPA — Tampa and 73 other local governments nationwide are going to court to support President Barack Obama's executive action to delay deportations of some immigrants.

Mayor Bob Buckhorn announced Monday that City Hall would sign on to a new friend-of-the-court brief in the case of Texas vs. United States, now pending before the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

"Tampa is a city of immigrants," said Buckhorn, a potential candidate for governor in 2018. "These reforms are common-sense solutions — keeping families together and growing our economies."

North Miami is the only other city or county in Florida to sign the brief.

On Nov. 20, Obama announced that immigration officials would delay deporting unauthorized immigrants who have children who are citizens or who have green cards, as long as the parents have been in the country for more than five years and meet other criteria.

The action, known as Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents or DAPA, would allow qualified immigrants apply for work permits and to avoid deportation for three years at a time. The applicants would have to pass background checks and pay a fee.

An estimated 4 million-plus people could qualify under the DAPA executive action, which sought to build on Obama's 2012 program to protect "dreamers," people who had been brought to the United States illegally as children and had no criminal record.

But on Feb. 16, the day before it was to take effect, Texas U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Hanen issued an injunction blocking the action in a case that included 26 states, including Florida. Hanen ruled that Obama's move would be a burden on states. He also wrote that no law gives the Department of Homeland Security "the discretion it is trying to exercise here."

In all, the cities and counties signing on to support the Obama administration are home to 43 million people. Their legal brief contends that Hanen did not consider harm that the delay would cause to local governments.

Conversely, local officials argue that allowing Obama's changes to go forward would benefit cities and counties by providing work authorizations to millions of workers. That, in turn, would be expected to increase local tax revenue, stimulate local economies, help immigrants engage with the communities where they work, keep families together and improve public safety to strengthening neighborhoods.

The effort to produce the brief was organized by Cities United for Immigration Action, which is led by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. Those signing the brief include the National League of Cities, the U.S. Conference of Mayors and:

Alexandria, Va.

Allentown, Penn.

Atlanta, Ga.

Austin, Texas

Baltimore

Bell, Calif.

Boston

Bridgeport, Conn.

Buffalo, NY

Cambridge, Mass.

Central Falls, Rhode Island

Chapel Hill, N.C.

Charleston, S.C.

Chicago

Coconino County, Ariz.

Columbia, S.C.

Columbus

Dallas County, Texas

Dayton, Ohio

Denver

Dolton, Ill.

El Paso County, Texas

Everett, Mass.

Gary, Ind.

Haledon, N.J.

Hartford, Conn.

Highland Park, Ill.

Hoboken, N.J.

Holyoke, Mass.

Houston, Texas

Jersey City, N.J.

Kansas City, Mo.

Little Rock

Los Angeles and Los Angeles County

Lucas County, Ohio

Madison, Wisc.

Milwaukee

Minneapolis

Montgomery County, Md.

Newark

New York

Niagara Falls, N.Y.

North Miami, Fla.

Oakland, Calif.

Paterson, N.J.

Philadelphia

Pittsburgh

Plainfield, N.J.

Portland, Ore.

Providence, Rhode Island

Racine, Wisc.

Ramsey County, Minn.

Rochester, N.Y.

Salt Lake City

San Francisco

San Jose, Calif.

Santa Ana, Calif.

Santa Cruz County, Ariz.

Santa Fe, N.M.

Santa Monica, Calif.

Schenectady, N.Y.

Seattle

Skokie, Ill.

St. Louis, Mo.

State College, Penn.

Syracuse, N.Y.

Tacoma, Wash.

Tampa

Travis County, Texas

Washington, D.C.

West Covina, Calif.

Yonkers, N.Y.