The 25 states suing the Obama administration over its newly announced deportation amnesty program told a federal court this week that the program will cost states billions of dollars, reported The Washington Times.
Within the 1,100-plus pages of documents submitted are detailed cost analysis complete with sworn affidavits from state officials and federal immigration officers alleging that Obama's amnesty plan will cause the states and their citizens to suffer and will result in an increase in illegal immigration.
In order for the states to have legal "standing" to sue in court, they need to prove that the state or its residents could suffer from Obama's immigration plan and whether or not the plan imposes on Congress' power to write laws and set policy, according to the Times.
Texas officials said in the documents that they will have to hire more than 100 new employees to process the hundreds of thousands of expected driver's license applications, costing taxpayers $130 per applicant.
Illegal immigrants in Wisconsin would be eligible to apply for concealed weapons permits, state officials said, which would also come at a cost to taxpayers.
And in Indiana, officials said the state will have to pay for unemployment benefits for illegal immigrants.
Texas says the new program will be little more than a rubber stamp, citing the 95 percent approval rate for applicants under the existing "Dreamers" program as evidence of what's to come.
In the Obama administration's defense, it said that the court judges don't have the power to stop the president's use of discretion and referenced the use of deferred action by other presidents to justify its legality, according to the Times.
"The state lawsuit is about politics, not policy or the constitutionality of the executive actions," said Marielena Hincapie, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, which has filed briefs in the case defending the policy, the Times reported. "Ultimately, we - along with scores of legal experts - believe the courts will prove that President Obama's immigration policy is legally sound."
Brownsville, Texas Judge Andrew Hanen is set to hear oral arguments in the case Thursday.
Congressional Republicans are hoping to stop the program by the end of February. The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to take up the Department of Homeland Defense spending bill early this week and will vote on multiple amendments to defund the president's immigration action, according to The Hill.
