By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
A split ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday will have ramifications for the thousands of illegal immigrants in Princeton and across Mercer County, now that they will not have the ability to apply for a program to defer deportation and get work permits.
The high court was tied 4-4 on a legal challenge to executive actions that President Barack Obama announced nearly two years ago intended to aid more than four million undocumented immigrants living in the country.
The program had been opposed by a coalition of 26 states on the grounds the president overstepped his bounds in taking steps that amounted to amnesty. A federal judge in Texas last year issued an injunction blocking the program from going forward, with an appeals court upholding the injunction.
But because of Thursday’s tie before the Supreme Court, the lower court ruling stands, to the dismay of local advocates for undocumented immigrants.
“We’re extremely disappointed, needless to say,” said Maria Juega, executive director of the Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund.
Councilwoman Heather H. Howard said Thursday that the town might have an information session to help the local immigrant population understand the impact of Thursday’s ruling.
Ms. Howard said she did not know how many undocumented immigrants in Princeton might have been eligible for the program. But Ms. Juega, citing a report by the Washington D.C.-based Migration Policy Institute, put the figure for Mercer County at 10,000.
Former Borough Councilman Roger Martindell, a lawyer who represents large numbers of undocumented immigrants who have legal problems, said Thursday’s ruling was not that much of surprise given the 4-4 split between liberals and conservatives on the high court.
Yet he criticized a “paralysis” in the federal government that is keeping the country from dealing with its national immigration problems.
